As of July 1, 2022, a total debt of Barqi Tojik (Tajikistan’s national power utility company) has amounted to 32 billion somonis (equivalent to about 3.1 billion U.S. dollars), Rustam Majidzoda, the head of the Barqi Tojik finance department, told reporters in Dushanbe on August 1.
According to him, the company now owes 2.8 billion somonis to the Sangtuda-2 hydropower plant, 2.4 billion somonis to Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Sangtudinskaya GES-1, which operates the Sangtuda-1 hydropower plant, 2 billion somonis to Orienbonk, and 23.6 billion somonis to the Ministry of Finance (government).
Meanwhile, Barqi Tojik’s receivables have amounted to more than 3.4 billion somonis as of July 1, 2022, including population’s debt for electricity consumption amounting to 1.3 billion somonis.
Barqi Tojik is one of the largest debtors in the country; the company’s debt id equal to one-third of the last year’s gross domestic product (GDP) of the country.
One of the main arguments in which the company's management explains its difficult financial situation is electricity low rates.
Recall, the process of restructuring of Barqi Tojik began in 2012 and Barqi Tojik was expected to be divided into three independent companies in late 2018: (i) generation; (ii) transmission business; and (iii) distribution. To-date, two companies have been established on the basis of the national power utility company: OJSC Power Distribution Network and OJSC Power Transmission Network.
The main objective of the restructuring of Barqi Tojik is in ensuring transparency in the country’s energy system.
Tajikistan’s power sector is comprised of the vertically integrated energy company, Barqi Tojik, three independent power producers (IPPs), and a concession in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) combining power generation and distribution.
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 about ten million people in all regions of the country except for GBAO.
Two of the IPPs – Sangtuda-1 and Sangtuda-2 hydropower plants – were constructed with investments from Russian and Iranian state-owned companies, and supply electricity to Barqi Tojik under 20-year power purchase agreements (PPAs). The third IPP – Roghun HPP – is under construction.
Pamir Energy Company (PEC) generates and supplies electricity to more than 200,000 people in GBAO under 25-year concession agreement.
Tajikistan desperately needs to reform its energy sector. An article “Tajikistan’s Energy Sector Reforms: Is Energy Export the Only Way Out of the Revenue Dilemma?” posted on CABAR’s website, in particular, says that in 2013, over 10 percent of Tajikistan’s enterprises considered unreliable electricity supply as a major constraint to doing business in the country. These enterprises reported 6 electrical outages per month lasting 4 hours on average and resulting in losses equal to 4.4 percent of annual sales. In 2019, the share of local enterprises who considered unreliable electricity supply as a major constraint to doing business fell down to 8.4 percent, still significantly above the average of 3.8 percent across Europe and Central Asia.
