Shafaq News- Baghdad
A power gap of nearly 40,000 megawatts is forcing Iraq tolean more heavily on private generators this summer, with demand exceeding60,000 MW and protests spreading over worsening cuts in several provinces.
The government has moved to support the private generatornetwork, now a daily lifeline for millions of Iraqis, after Prime Minister AliAl-Zaidi received a delegation representing generator owners in the presence ofthe electricity minister and directed authorities to ease procedures forsecuring fuel. The Oil Ministry has also approved supplying generators withsubsidized fuel for three months at around $0.15 per liter instead of $0.31, ina bid to stabilize ampere prices and reduce pressure on households alreadypaying for power outside the national grid.
Ahmad Mousa Al-Abadi, an electricity and energy specialistand former spokesperson for the Ministry of Electricity, told Shafaq News thatthe decision is an attempt to ease pressure on the grid and prevent generatorsubscription prices from rising, but its success depends on steady fuelsupplies and field monitoring.
The ministry had warned early that the current summer wouldbe among the hardest for the power system because of shortages in fuel and gasfeeding power stations, he added. Shortages in local and imported gas havedirectly reduced production, while alternatives such as liquefied gas platformsand electricity interconnection lines have slowed because of regionalconditions and financial pressure.
The deficit extends to transmission and distribution, wherelosses still reach about 60%, alongside “aging grid sections and rising loads”caused by urban expansion and new residential areas.
In Al-Anbar, the local government announced that theprovince receives only 600 to 650 MW, although its actual need ranges between2,700 and 3,000 MW, leaving residents with no more than six to eight hours ofpublic supply a day.
Basra, Iraq’s main oil province, has entered scheduled cutsfor the first time in years, with four hours of supply followed by two hours ofoutage after production fell to about 3,150 MW against demand exceeding 5,500MW this summer. According to operating data from the Southern Control Center,gas supplies feeding Basra’s power stations have dropped from about 28 millioncubic meters per day in summer 2025 to nearly 9 million now, alongside thesuspension of some import lines.
Protesters in Al-Diwaniyah’s Ghammas district also blockedthe Al-Diwaniyah-Najaf road to demand a higher electricity share, arguing thatcuts had exceeded five hours for every one hour of supply.
The Ministry of Electricity says power is distributedaccording to ratios approved by the Higher Committee for Coordination amongProvinces, with Baghdad receiving 27.07% of the energy allocated to provinces,followed by Dhi Qar at 9.02% and Nineveh at 8.47%. However, residents, whospoke to Shafaq News, countered that the capital’s larger electricity share hasnot been reflected in residential neighborhoods, where transformers remainoverloaded, outages last for hours, and generator subscriptions rise monthafter month.
The core problem lies in the lack of balance between Iraq’selectricity sectors, explained lawmaker Uday Al-Zamili, a member ofparliament’s Oil, Gas, and Natural Resources Committee. Distribution networkshave improved in recent years, but transmission still needs major expansionbecause high-voltage lines and substations were designed for older demandlevels and no longer match current consumption.
The expansion of gas-fired power stations without parallelinvestment in associated gas capture, he said, is one of Iraq’s “main strategicmistakes,” as it kept the country dependent on imported gas to run asignificant part of its power plants.
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