Central Iraqi provinces cut working hours as temperatures rise

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Two central Iraqi provinces are reducing official working hours because of rising temperatures, as the country suffers from power shortages, state media reported.

“Due to temperatures rising to a high level, the governor of the holy Karbala Nassif Jassim al-Khattabi has decided to reduce official working hours to start from eight in the morning to one in the afternoon, starting June 30 to the first of August,” read a statement from Karbala governorate, published by state media on Tuesday.

Babil’s provincial government also announced they will cut working hours, sending people home at 1pm. 

Temperatures are forecast to hit 51 degrees Celsius in Babil on Wednesday and 49 in Karbala. Every summer, Iraqis swelter in the heat and chronic problems with electricity shortages. This year, reduced natural gas imports from Iran and frequent attacks on power lines by the Islamic State group (ISIS) have contributed to power problems. 

The Council of Ministers suspended the official working hours for Thursday, based on the report of the General Authority for Meteorology, regarding the rise in temperatures to 50 degrees Celsius or more in the central and southern of Iraq.

Several Iraqi governorates decided to temporarily suspend official working hours this week, while others announced to reduce working hours, following the significant rise in temperatures.

Diwaniyah and Diyala announced considering Thursday of each week as a day off. Salahaddin Governorate reduced the official working hours by one hour.

There was a complete blackout in the southern Iraqi provinces of Muthanna, Maysan, Dhi Qar and Basra on Tuesday. Iraq’s minister of electricity submitted his resignation the same day.

On Wednesday, security forces in Diyala killed a person they said was an ISIS terrorist trying to blow up two electricity pylons.

Power shortages have been a rallying call for protesters, most notably in the summer of 2018.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has ordered security forces to redouble efforts to protect transmission towers. On Tuesday, he left for a visit to European Union headquarters in Brussels where his discussions will focus on electricity generation, in addition to political, security and economic issues, according to a statement from his office.

Iraq’s power grid is heavily dependent on natural gas imports from Iran. Last December, Tehran substantially reduced its natural gas exports to Iraq, threatening to plunge parts of the country into darkness, saying Baghdad owes it $5 billion dollars.

Iraq’s Minister of Finance Ali Allawi said on April 12 that Baghdad would “soon” pay its debts to Tehran for the gas and electricity imports. 

According to MEES, a newsletter that publishes weekly data on oil and gas in the Middle East, Iraq relies on Iranian imports for 42 percent of its power generation. “The Ministry of Electricity said on 1 June that preparations for the summer demand season were almost complete with plans to bring generation capacity up to 22GW. But reaching the target depends on the stability of Iranian gas flows to power plants” and would still fall about 8 GW short of meeting demand, MEES reported on Tuesday.

Updated at 8:14 pm