The First Deputy Head of the Antimonopoly Service (Service) under the Government of Tajikistan Nourali Qurbonzoda claims that the rise in electricity rates in Tajikistan has resulted from increasing expenses of companies engaged in generating transmitting and distributing electricity.
In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Qurbonzoda noted on February 7 that the interagency working group set up at the Service has come to the conclusion that it was necessary to raise electricity rates after a three-month analysis conducted by it.
Qurbonzoda considers the decision to raise electricity rates to be completely justified, since according to his estimates, the expenses of the above-mentioned companies are increasing every year.
Among such expenses, he called “increase in employees’ salaries, fuel costs and other expenses” affecting the cost of electricity.
Qurbonzoda, in particular, emphasized that combined heat and power (CHP) plants operating in Dushanbe “purchase natural gas, coal and fuel oil that affects the total cost of electricity.”
Meanwhile, about 95 percent of electricity in Tajikistan is generated by hydropower plants and only little more than 5 percent is generated by CHP plants.
For comparison, in neighboring Uzbekistan, where more than 80 percent of electricity is generated by CHP plants, the electricity rate for residential customers is lower than in Tajikistan.
In Tajikistan, the current price for one kWh of electricity for residential customers is 30.75 diram (2.8 US cents), while in Uzbekistan, the current price for one kWh of electricity for residential customers is 295.00 sums (2.4 US cents).
The cost of electricity generated by hydropower plants is several times lower than the cost of electricity generated by CHP plants (coal and gas-fired power plants).
