Iraq's chronic power crisis persists as temperatures exceed 50°C

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's chronic electricity crisis continues through summer temperatures above 50°C, with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani's pledge to double power output by 2027 echoing similar unfulfilled promises made by every Iraqi leader since 2003, the Middle East Monitor reported. The site noted that former prime ministers Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, Nouri al-Maliki and Ibrahim al-Jaafari had all made comparable commitments that ended the same way. According to World Bank figures cited in the report, around 40% of Iraq's generated electricity is lost to technical and commercial waste, a level not seen in any other major oil producer. Even at peak performance, households receive only eight to 12 hours of power per day, while Baghdad residents pay between $100 and $300 a month to neighborhood generators during the summer months. The report said Iraq remains dependent on electricity and gas imports because it has failed to develop its domestic gas reserves instead of flaring them. A 2011 statement by then-Energy Minister Hussain al-Shahristani that Iraq would soon be exporting electricity was described as detached from reality. The publication argued the problem stems not from individual prime ministers but from an entrenched network of interests that has made the electricity sector the country's largest field of corruption.