A high-ranking member of Iranian parliament says that currently almost one fourth of the energy produced in the country is being wasted.

Malek Shariati, the spokesman for the parliament energy committee said Sunday that 23% of the energy produced in Iran is lost due to technical gaps.

The latest report by the World Bank shows that the intensity of energy consumption in Iran in 2019 was four times more than the European Union.

Earlier, Mohsen Delaviz, a former CEO of Iran’s Fuel Consumption Optimization Organization had announced that 40% of the energy consumed in the country is wasted without reaching consumers.

A major part of Iran’s energy waste is in the production and transmission of natural gas, as well as the conversion of fossil energy into electricity.

Based on the World Bank figures, every year 18 billion cubic meters of gas is burned and wasted only in the production phase due to lack gas collection equipment. Almost nine billion cubic meters of gas is lost in the worn-out transmission and distribution network per year.

Iran's thermal power stations consume 70 billion cubic meters of gas and 20 billion liters of fuel oil and diesel annually while the average efficiency of thermal power plants in the country is about 37%.

On the other hand, official statistics released by the ministry of energy show that 13% of the electricity produced in the country is wasted in the transmission and distribution phases due to worn-out equipment.