DUSHANBE, March 25, 2011, Asia-Plus — Repair and service operations for Dushanbe’s power supply network have caused electricity cutoffs in some areas of the Tajik capital city.
Representatives of Barqi Tojik power holding state that electricity cutoffs in the city are connecting with repair and maintenance services for Dushanbe’s power supply network.
“No electricity rationing has been officially introduced in Dushanbe, however, electricity supplies in some areas of Dushanbe are cut off from 24:00 to 5:00 am for the purpose of saving electricity, because the country’s power supply network currently operates under a special regime,” the source said.
The Barqi Tojik officials say these measures are temporary and regular electricity supply in Dushanbe and other regions of the country will be resumed with increase in water flow in the Vakhsh River and water levels in the reservoir powering the Norak hydroelectric power plant (HPP).
Current water flow rate in the Vakhsh River is now some 200 cubic meters per second, which is three times lower than last year and two times lower than an average long-term level, the source noted.
We will recall that residential customers in rural areas now have electricity for only two or three hours per day.
In the spring and summer, Tajikistan’s hydropower plants generate a huge amount of electricity that is exported to neighboring countries, but in the autumn and winter, especially if the summer was dry and water levels in reservoirs are low, electricity rationing is introduced in the country.
This winter, electricity rationing did not affect Dushanbe, the regional administrative centers and main cities, while rural areas had electricity for about ten hours a day.
