Electricity rates will rise 16 percent for all categories of consumers in Tajikistan beginning on January 1, 2024, Jomi Umarov, Adviser to Director-General of the Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Power Distribution Network, told Asia-Plus in an interview Tuesday afternoon.
According to him, the government issued a relevant resolution No 546 on this subject on November 29 this year.
Thus, the electricity rate for residential customers will be raised from 26.51 diram (equivalent to 2.4 cents) per 1 kWh to 30.75 diram (2.8 cents) per 1 KWh.
The electricity rates for other categories of electricity consumers will also be raised by 16 percent starting from January 1, 2024.
For the last time, the government raised electricity rates on September 1, 2019. Electricity rates rose for all categories of electricity consumers, with the exception of the Tajik Aluminum Company, or TALCO (true, from January 1, 2023 the electricity rate for TALCO was raised to 15.57 diram per 1 kWh. Before that, the company paid at the rate of 7.20 diram per 1 kWh from May 1 through September and at the rate of 11.80 diram per 1 kWh from October 1 through April).
In 2020, the government refrained from raising utility (water and electricity supplies) and public transport rates due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Current prices for 1 kWh of electricity in Tajikistan are 22.66 diram for residential customers, 55.14 diram for industrial and non-industrial customers, and 22.66 diram for federally funded institutions, including public utilities and sports complexes,
Electricity rates for pumping stations for mechanized irrigation and repair-and-production bases of the Agency for Land Reclamation and Irrigation under the Government of Tajikistan rose to 7.86 diram per 1 kWh for the period from April 1 to September 30 and to 22.66 diram per 1 kWh for the period from October 1 to March 31. The price of one KWh of electricity for vertical drainage wells and land reclamation pumping stations was raised to 7.87 diram.
The Tajik metallurgical plant currently pays 9.68 diram per 1 kWh during the period from April 1 to September 30 and 55.14 diram per 1 kWh during the period from October 1 to March 31.
In 2019, customer spending on electricity in Tajikistan was the highest in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. Residents of Tajikistan spend on electricity on average nearly one-fifth of their monthly incomes.
The Program on Financial Recovery of Barqi Tojik (Tajikistan’s state-owned power utility), in particular, noted that during heating season the poorest households in rural areas in 2019 spent on average nearly 25 percent of their monthly incomes on electricity.
