The energy consumption department does not have a trustee; Forming the Energy Consumption Control Organization from next year

According to Mehr reporter, the problem of energy imbalance is a problem that has become more prominent in recent years due to the intensification of energy consumption in our country, to the point where in recent months we have seen frequent power cuts or gas pressure drops in some places.

This topic has different dimensions that can be discussed for hours about each of its dimensions.

In this regard, we talked with “Malik Shariati”, a member of the Islamic Council and a member of the Energy Commission, in order to examine the dimensions of this issue in general and within the time limit.

Readers of Mehr News Agency can study the details of this issue in the case filed with the same title in Mehr News Agency.

Mehr: Welcome, at the beginning send that dissatisfaction That is, what and when did it enter the literature of the country's energy sector?

Malik Shariati: Well, if I want to say it in a very general way, I have to say that our dear people are facing it in their daily life. In popular literature, it is said that when the eight mortgages are not met or the income and expenditure are not coordinated, that is, when there is an imbalance between production and demand, an imbalance has actually been formed.

In the matter of energy, the imbalance between production and consumption has caused imbalance. It means that production is not the answer to consumption.

When this amount of production does not satisfy our consumption and we practically have to import a part of the energy, or in any case, its lack causes us to deprive some parts, we are practically in a state of disharmony.

Now the condition is such that we are witnessing dissatisfaction throughout the year. In the past, we could only have problems during peak consumption, but now we see that we are suffering from a shortage of electricity in winter, and this shows that urgent thinking should be done immediately.

As it was said, when imbalance occurs, it means that we have problems either in the production sector or in the consumption sector, and imbalance has two wings that can be solved in two ways.

One is the path of production, where we must increase production, and one is the path of consumption, where we must control and reduce consumption.

In the field of consumption, issues such as energy wastage and energy smuggling are also discussed, which should be resolved immediately.

Mehr: In your opinion, which sector is the priority? Consumption or production sector?

Malik Shariati: In order to answer this question, it is necessary to explain the state of energy production in the country. The Ministry of Petroleum is mainly in charge of energy production in the country. This ministry produces and supplies crude oil, gas condensate, natural gas, and downstream oil and gas products such as gasoline and other products.

In the electricity sector, the Ministry of Energy is in charge of production. Well, if we try and put all our energy into production, let's assume that we have nothing to do with the consumption sector, how much capacity can we create? These are the issues that he specifically talked about today in the seventh program and We have a specific operation.

But our problem now is the consumption sector because its growth is accelerating and it has created this unfavorable situation; Production alone cannot compensate for dissatisfaction and actually save us from this crisis.

The issue of production is true, which is an important issue, but you cannot look at one aspect to solve the problem of disharmony. So, currently, what is urgent and has more priority and is more important is to resolve the dissatisfaction on the side of demand and on the side of consumption.

The first is that we are lagging behind in the field of consumption management, and the necessity of this topic has been discussed in expert fields for almost two decades, and there have been serious predictions in this field, the days ahead of us and the predictions of the past years. We used to say that we will have problems in the future and unfortunately, it was not taken very seriously in different governments and assemblies, and in fact, the general policies announced by the leader of the revolution, which were also The fifth plan was not implemented in the sixth plan, in the general policies of the resistance economy, and in the general policies of reform and energy consumption, which were emphasized.

Mehr: What specific goal was pursued in these policies that has not been achieved?

Malik Shariati: Specifically, the intensity of energy consumption in the country should be halved with the implementation of these policies. But we see that the intensity of energy consumption has also increased. It is necessary to state here that what is comparable and the right index and the standard index to measure the state of energy imbalance in the field of consumption is the energy consumption intensity index.

Of course, there are other statistics that are not wrong statistics either, but the comparison is wrong, for example, they say how much energy consumption is in a country compared to other countries, but it should be said that the energy consumption is not comparable between different countries. It is not industrial at all, it consumes little, or it is an industrial country and consumes more, so what is comparable is the intensity of energy consumption.

Another issue is per capita energy consumption, which is the amount of energy consumption per member of the society, which is also not true. What is important is the energy intensity index, which is the amount of consumption in the form of a deduction and GDP is placed in the denominator of the deduction, which is determined by the energy consumption per unit of production in the field of industry, technology, etc.

Mehr, you have correctly opened up the issue of consumption to the audience. The question that should be asked is, do we need laws to control consumption? So what happens to past legal assignments? Do we need more supervision or should the agency be in charge of this area? What should we do to improve this situation in the consumption sector?

Malik Shariati: As I mentioned, we have almost a specific trustee in the field of production in the country. The Ministry of Oil and the Ministry of Energy are responsible for the production of oil and gas, products and electricity in the country. But the problem is in the field of consumption. The fact is that during these years we did not have a single and centralized trustee; It is not clear who is responsible for consumption management in the country. In the Ministry of Oil, we have a fuel consumption optimization company that is under the supervision of the ministry. As it was said, the Ministry of Oil and the Ministry of Energy are basically responsible for producing and increasing production, and they are not responsible for managing consumption and reducing consumption.

Practically, this experiment has failed to be responsible for production and also responsible for consumption. These must be separated. The Ministry of Oil and the Ministry of Energy should focus on production and form an institution and organization to be in charge of consumption control. When we talk about energy consumption, industry, agriculture, household, construction, etc., all should have a custodian.

Unfortunately, consumers in the various sectors that were mentioned as an example think that there is an inexhaustible and inexhaustible resource that we can consume as much as we want and these resources will never run out. Therefore, we must have a structural reform for the field of consumption management.

We also had pathology in the 11th parliament, and our conclusion was that we definitely need a centralized group in charge of consumption management, which has two characteristics, one is integrated, and the second is that the second category company is not a ministry and under the supervision of the president. The president or the first vice-president should be administered and it should be a supra-organization.

In the seventh program under Article 46, this organization has been approved, and God willing, it will start its work from the beginning of next year, its statute will be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers and one person will take responsibility for it.

Mehr: How will the financial resources of this organization be provided?

Malik Shariati: As you said, consumption management also requires a series of financial resources, although it does not require resources like production, but finally, the field of consumption management, because it also wants to reduce consumption, needs money and financial resources, for example, low-consumption equipment or a series of reforms are needed, which must be spent on Buildings, in cars, etc. In the Law on Removing Obstacles and Competitiveness of Production, it said that the investor should come and invest in a building, a car or an industrial equipment, and the cost will be paid from the place of savings. has been

We used to say that the investor should invest and then we would pay for it, but now we have considered a different method. In the seventh plan of this plan, it has been thought to create an organization and to finance it, a separate book account was also seen as the financial fund of this organization. . We have included a certificate for those who want to save money, which shows how much this activity will save.

In the first year, this account has a capital of seventy thousand billion tomans, so the resources of this account should only be spent on purchasing certificates that can be rotated.

We will set up this organization in such a way that even families can benefit from the savings. It means that a housewife who does not know what industrial work is, now what is saving, can profit with the same consumption culture, for example, by wearing one more dress. For this purpose, we issue posterior and anterior certificates so that the government itself can buy these certificates from individuals and pay them money. According to this law, the government is obliged to pay 50% of the free price from this account to the people who performed activities that resulted in savings.

Mehr: When we talk about saving, this issue is in the mind of the consumer doer It is implied that the prices should change basically how much the price increase can control the consumption effective be

Malik Shariati: My own opinion is that price policies should not be implemented alone first, we should move forward with non-price policies, one reason is that we experienced in the past, we increased prices, after a while the effect disappears. Our inflation is high, we can't do this again, it means creating a shock. Surely, the price that increases has an effect in reducing consumption, but these are temporary.

In terms of price policies, we go towards the people, that is, we go towards the household consumer, we make gas more expensive for them or electricity for them, while our priority in these areas is the government sector, we must save money in these areas.

The price increase should be the last step. First, we should produce low-consumption heaters or heating equipment for the people, produce low-consumption cars and provide them with them, and then go to the price increase.

Saying that the temperature should be reduced by two degrees is culture-building. We must do the root of the work and then move towards culture-building and price increases.

End of the first part.