Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

Dushanbe and Bishkek have agreed on export of 500 kilowatt/hour of electricity from Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan for 2.5 cents per kilowatt.

The relevant agreement was reached during Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariyev's visit to Tajikistan, where he met with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Kyrgyz Telegraph Agency reported on June 9.

During the meeting, Sariyev said Kyrgyzstan continues to experience a shortage of electricity in 2015, and due to this it is planned to continue imports from Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

Power outages in Kyrgyzstan are reportedly frequent. Some 5.5-million people face a potentially catastrophic energy crisis.

So, ensuring Kyrgyzstan's energy security is one of the top priorities of the government. Recently, Kyrgyz officials have announced the government's plans over the next 10 years to double the production of electricity in the country. According to First Deputy Prime Minister, Valery Dil, the country should produce up to 30 billion kWh by 2025.

Power outages over the last years have been compensated by the purchasing of electricity from abroad. The government is planning to buy 1.18 billion kilowatts of electricity from its neighbors by spending around $900 million in 2015.

Usually, in summer, Kyrgyzstan buys its electricity from Tajikistan and in winter from Kazakhstan. In April, Kyrgyzstan imported 400.69 million kW/h of electricity from Kazakhstan.

Later the government decided to start import of electricity from Tajikistan from June to September. However, the negotiations dragged due to the price disagreement between the sides. Tajikistan insisted on raising the cost of electricity supplied to Kyrgyzstan up to 3.5 cents per kW/h. In the same period of last year Kyrgyzstan purchased electricity from Tajikistan for 2 cents per kW/h.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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