A program of liberalization of gas and electricity prices will be presented in Uzbekistan until September of this year, the First Deputy Minister of Energy Azim Akhmedkhodjayev reported.
According to him, it is planned to liberalize energy prices and introduce social consumption norms through this program.
“In order to increase the efficiency of energy-consuming enterprises, as well as to set long-term goals, we want to reduce energy costs and divide them into different tariffs, because currently one tariff for gas and electricity is set for each enterprise. That's why we want to separate them and approach each subject, each business and social layer in Uzbekistan separately,” Azim Ahmedkhodjayev said.
He noted that one of the main goals of the government is to eliminate obstacles to the efficient operation and growth of the electric power industry.
Azim Ahmedkhodjayev added that the Ministry of Energy, together with international financial institutions and other organizations, is developing a new regulatory framework for the entire industry, which will be the basis for future reforms.
“We are preparing the foundations for the transition to a competitive electricity market in Uzbekistan. We are currently working on a program, according to which we will attract foreign companies and foreign expertise in the field of electricity transmission to the regions. We want to attract well-managed companies that can demonstrate a new approach to electricity production and delivery to the final consumer,” he said.
For this purpose, an independent regulator will be established and it will regulate market-based tariffs and relations between energy producers and consumers. According to Akhmedkhodjayev, the Ministry is studying the experience of Azerbaijan in this regard, after it is tested, the regulator can work independently.
It should be recalled that gas and electricity tariffs were last increased in August 2019.
Last year, it was planned to increase basic tariffs for residents by 10% and switch to differentiated tariffs from July 1, but this did not happen. It is envisaged that tariff differentiation will force consumers to save, and will allow to reduce subsidies from the budget to the relatively wealthy and the most energy-consuming segment of the population.
Economists have been saying that an open and competitive energy market should be established to fundamentally solve the problems of power outages and gas outages. In the 2022 state program, many tasks for energy reform in the same direction were set, but the implementation of most of them was delayed.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in his address to the parliament at the end of 2022, said that the transition to a free energy market is the right way, but he stressed that it will be gradual.
In February 2023, the deputy chairman of the Central Bank said that liberalization could begin in May, which was included in the inflation forecast.
In March of this year, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that electricity and gas tariffs for domestic consumers in Uzbekistan will not be increased in 2023.
