The debt of Barqi Tojik (Tajikistan’s state-owned power utility company) to Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Sangtudinskaya GES-1, which operates the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP), has reportedly risen 259.7 million somoni (equivalent to some 30 million U.S. dollars) in nine months to September 30, 2019, reaching 1.315 billion somoni (equivalent to more than 135 million U.S. dollars).
The press center of OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 says Sangtuda-1 HPP has generated 1.769.04 billion kWh of electricity over the same nine-month period, which was 88.75 million kWh more than in the same period last year. A total cost of the electricity generated by the plant over the report period is reportedly 495.2 million somoni (VAT included).
Meanwhile, an average monthly rate of payment for electricity generated by Sangtuda-1 HPP has not exceeded 39 percent over the report period, according to the Sangtudinskaya GES-1.
Currently, Barqi Tojik is the only buyer of electricity generated by Sangtuda-1 HPP.
Recall, Tajik and Russian presidents officially unveiled the fourth and last unit of the Sangtuda-1 HPP on July 31, 2009.
The construction of the Sangtuda-1 hydropower plant located some 110 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe began in the late 1980s. By the early 1990s, only 20% of the construction work had been completed, and further construction was suspended due to a civil war that broke out in Tajikistan in the early 1990s. The talks between Russia and Tajikistan on completing the construction of the Sangtuda-1 HPP began in 2003 and in 2004 the parties signed an inter-governmental agreement.
Russian-Tajik OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 was established to complete the construction of the Santuda-1 power plant. Russia’s Inter RAO YeES and the Ministry of Energy and Industries of Tajikistan signed an agreement on the establishment of the company in Dushanbe on February 16, 2005.
Russia owns 75% percent of the shares minus one share and Tajikistan assumes the 25% ownership interest plus one share in Sangtudinskaya GES-1.
Barqi Tojik is fully owned by the Government. It owns and operates most of the electricity generating plants and is also responsible for electricity transmission, dispatch, and distribution services to around 8 million people in all regions of the country except for the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO). Pamir Energy Company (PEC) generates and supplies electricity to around 200,000 people in
It is to be noted that Tajikistan’s power utility company is now in a difficult financial state. As of January 1, 2019, Barqi Tojik’s total debts reportedly amounted to 23.1 billion somoni (equivalent to about 2.5 billion U.S. dollars).
