Iran’s State-Run Power Company Warns Crypto Miners With Threats Of Power Cuts

Tavanir, Iran’s state-run power generation, and transmission company has warned crypto mining firms that if they continue to use the state grid for their operations, they might be facing power cuts.

Notably, in the previous Iranian month has risen by 7 percent compared to the corresponding period last year. This increase can only be attributed to crypto miners. The spokesman for Tavanir noted that every mining machine that is powered by the same cheap source of electricity available to houses consumes the equivalent of 24 homes.

At the beginning of the year, BitcoinExchangeGuide reported about Iran becoming the global hotspot for miners looking for cheap power. Especially the Chinese were interested. They even had a surplus of energy. In the five years starting March 2013 to March 2018, Iran exported about 43 billion kWh of power to neighbors. It earned revenue of $4.1 billion from these exports.

The average price per kW/h had been $0.03 for the past year. Which is significantly lower than other countries that have a significant mining industry (USA $0.12, China $0.08 – 2018). The state subsidizes the energy in the country. Another important reason for higher energy prices in the country is, however, water shortages. About a year ago, Iran experienced power shortages due to drought.

Even Iran was interested in these crypto projects to cushion the effects of US imposed sanctions that have affected the country in a number of ways.

The local blockchain researcher Nima Dehqan has affirmed that several investors from countries such as Spain, Ukraine, and Armenia, as well as France have been interested in the local market.

However, things started to change in the past couple of months. Their Energy Ministry, Homayoun Haeri had come up with the idea that crypto miners should be charged with real prices, not subsidized ones. Haeri has insisted that electricity bills for cryptocurrency mining activities should be priced according to the same rates established for power exports.