DUSHANBE, June 5, 2015, Asia-Plus – Kyrgyz media outlets report that Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have failed to reach an agreement on prices for Tajik electricity that will be supplied to Kyrgyzstan during summer period.
On June 5, Kyrgyz newspaper Vecherniy Bishkek (The Evening Bishkek) quoted Kyrgyz Deputy Minister of energy and Industry, Nurlan Sadykov, as saying that the negotiations are still under way. “Unfortunately, we have not yet reached a consensus but we hope to conclude the contract with Tajikistan this month,” Kyrgyz official noted.
According to him, Tajikistan insists on raising electricity prices. Sadykov avoided the question whether Kyrgyzstan was ready to buy Tajik electricity at new prices or not. He just noted that Kyrgyzstan was ready for increase in volumes of imported electricity.
“We are ready to purchase about 310 billion kWh of electricity or as much as Tajikistan can supply to us,” Kyrgyz official was quoted as saying.
We will recall that the first round of negotiations between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan on electricity deliveries to Kyrgyzstan during summer period was held in April and Tajikistan refused to supply surplus electricity to Kyrgyzstan during summer period at last year’s prices.
“Negotiations on electricity supplies for this year have been conducted in Dushanbe but the sides have failed to agree on electricity prices,” Nozir Yodgori, a spokesman for Barqi Tojik (Tajik electricity supplier), told Asia-Plus in an interview on May 5.
According to him, Tajikistan is ready to supply surplus electricity to the neighboring country during the summer period at the rate of 3.5 cents per 1 kWh while Kyrgyzstan wants to buy Tajik electricity at the rate of 2.0 cents per 1 kWh.
“Barqi Tojik considers the price offered by the Kyrgyz side unacceptable because this price does not cover even Barqi Tojik’s expenses,” Yodgori said.
In 2014, Tajikistan supplied 226.7 million kWh of electricity to Kyrgyzstan during the summer period at the rate of 2.0 cents per 1 kWh.
In Tajikistan, current prices of one kilowatt-hour electricity are 12.6 dirams for residential customers and 30.6 dirams for industrial and non-industrial enterprises. The average price of one kWh of electricity in Tajikistan is 2.2 cents.
Meanwhile, the northern regions of Kyrgyzstan now receive electricity during the summer period from neighboring Kazakhstan at the rate of 7.0 cents per one kWh.
