DUSHANBE, October 11, 2012, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan has reportedly suspended electricity supplies to Afghanistan because Tajikistan itself has begun to experience electricity shortages.
Nozir Yodgori, a spokesman for Barqi Tojik (the state-owned utility responsible for generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Tajikistan), says electricity supplies to Afghanistan were suspended when electricity rationing was introduced in Tajikistan’s rural areas.
“Under an agreement between power companies of the two countries, electricity supplies to Afghanistan are suspended when power shortages occur in Tajikistan itself,” Yodgori said.
According to him, Tajikistan was supplying electricity to Afghanistan during summer period via the Sangtuda HPP – Puli-i Khumri power transmission line.
“At present, only 1-1.5 million kWh of electricity (protective voltage) are transmitted via the Sangtuda HPP – Puli-i Khumri power transmission line per day,” said Yodgori. “During the summer period, Barqi Tojik was supplying 3.5 million kWh of electricity to northern regions of Afghanistan per day.”
Over the past summer, Barqi Tojik reportedly supplied some 450 million kWh of electricity to Afghanistan.
We will recall that electricity rationing was introduced in rural areas of Tajikistan on October 7. The rationing resulted in the supply of daily electrical power in rural areas being reduced to fourteen hours – six hours in the morning (from 4:00 am to 10:00 am) and eight hours in the evening (from 16:00 pm to 24:00).
Measures rationing electricity supplies are usually introduced in all regions except Dushanbe and seek to curb the country”s rising electricity consumption. The rationing is introduced in October or November and lasts through March or April next year. The rationing results in the supply of daily electrical power being reduced to 12 or 10 hours. In addition to curbing rising consumption, the move also stems from a decline in the water level in the country”s reservoirs powering the main hydroelectric power plants.
