Tajikistan has begun supplying surplus electricity to neighboring Kyrgyzstan after all.
According to Barqi Tojik (Tajikistan's national integrated power company), about 14 percent of electricity generated in Tajikistan last month was exported to neighboring countries, including Kyrgyzstan.
Last month, Tajikistan reportedly supplied 10.2 million kWh of surplus electricity to Kyrgyzstan, which was 32.2 million kWh less than in August last year.
In August 2015, Tajikistan reportedly supplied 42.4 million kWh of electricity to Kyrgyzstan.
Meanwhile Tajikistan supplied 207.3 million kWh of surplus electricity to Afghanistan last month, which was 21.8 million kWh more than in August 2015. Tajikistan reportedly supplies electricity to Afghanistan at the rate of 3.2 cents per kWh.
In all, Tajikistan generated 1.557 billion kWh of electricity in August this year.
Recall that Kyrgyzstan 24.kg news agency reported in June that Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have reached an agreement on price for Tajik electricity flowing into Kyrgyzstan this summer after three months of negotiations.
Kyrgyzstan will pay its neighbor 2.5 cents per kWh, up from last summer’s rate at 2.0 cents but short of Tajikistan’s original proposed rate of 3.5 cents, according to 24.kg. Citing to the Kyrgyz Deputy Minister of Energy and Industry, Aybek Kaliyev, 24.kg reported that Tajikistan will supply Kyrgyzstan with 500 million kWh of electricity from June to September.
The Tajik Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Usmonali Usmonzoda, however, told reporters in Dushanbe on July 26 that Tajikistan will not supply surplus electricity to Kyrgyzstan this year.
According to him, Tajikistan could not meet Kyrgyzstan’s requirements in electricity for its Batken region. “Kyrgyzstan asked for 2 billion kWh of electricity for June-September this year at the rate of 2.0 cents per kWh,” said the minister. “We could not supply this volume of electricity to Kyrgyzstan because our Sughd province now needs more electricity because its annual requirements in electricity have increased due to development of its industrial sector.”
Usmonzoda further added that Kazakhstan had also applied to Tajikistan for power supplies in the summer months. Tajikistan cannot supply electricity to Kazakhstan because it is cut off from the Central Asian unified power grid.
As it had been reported earlier, Uzbekistan officially left the Soviet-era regional power grid that united the country with its three Central Asian neighbors in December 2009. Tajikistan does not share a common border with Kazakhstan, and Tashkent’s withdrawal from the regional grid also cut off Tajikistan from Kazakhstan.
Tajikistan has sufficient summer-time (defined as May 1 to September 30) hydropower surpluses to export to the neighboring countries.
Tajikistan mainly exports electricity generated by Sangtuda-1 and Sangtuda-2 hydroelectric power plants.
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.
