"With higher water levels in hydroelectric dams, thanks to the heavy rains in March, hydropower plants are generating 12,000 gigawatt hours of power that is 5,000 megawatts more compared to a year ago,” Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi was quoted as saying by IRNA Sunday.

Highlighting other contributing factors, he said new power plants (thermal, combined cycle and solar) with capacity to generate 3,000 megawatts have become operational. Furthermore, the length of the national power distribution network has risen by 18,000 kilometers and now surpasses 800,000 km.

"Capacity of power substations, including transmission and distribution, has also increased by 10,000 megavolt ampere," he said, adding that capacity of substations currently is 107,000 megavolt amperes, Financial Tribune reported.

Mashhadi said the number of transformers has also risen by 15,000 to 702,000. Transformers include distribution, step-up, step-down, medium and large gas-insulated equipment.

The rise in the number of transformers has increased their output capacity from 119,000 MVA to 121,000 MVA.

The state-affiliated Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company's (Tavanir) maximum generation capacity is 58 GW and network load is projected to surpass 61 GW in summer, but it has not happened yet and demand is still close to 57,500 megawatts.

"If necessary, the 3,000 MW deficit will have to be compensated by load shedding and outages," he said, noting that so long as industries and households continue to consume prudently, there will be no need for power cuts.