Kyrgyzstan’s minister of economy Daniyar Amangeldiev has told a press conference in Bishkek about his vision for the country’s energy sector. A new tariff pricing policy has been presented to the Kyrgyz parliament, and will be adopted in May this year.
According to Amangeldiev, the new electricity tariff policy will allow for new capacity to be introduced, and for the country to reduce the country’s electricity deficit year by year until the country’s power-demand needs are met. Electricity prices will rise by 10.8% as early as May 2024, and taking into account inflation, this increase will be permanent.
Amangeldiev said that it will now be much easier to obtain permission from the authorities to build energy facilities in the country. Measures have also been taken to make it easier for investors to invest in Kyrgyzstan’s energy sector. “With its adoption (the new law on tariff policy), those capacities that are planned will be introduced, and accordingly, every year we will reduce the shortage of electricity to fully meet the needs of the country, and possibly [lead to] electricity export,” he commented, adding that this year in Kyrgyzstan developers have started 10 small hydropower plants (HPPs).
Earlier, Kyrgyz president Sadyr Zhaparov said that in addition to the construction of large energy facilities, it’s necessary to build small HPPs.
In 2022, the World Bank allocated $50 million to Kyrgyzstan to modernize its energy infrastructure — upgrading transformers, power lines and installing smart meters. A year later, the bank provided another $80 million in concessional loans (at below-market lending rates) to improve the power grid and support small-scale power generation. Last fall, the World Bank allocated $5 million to the republic for a feasibility study of the project of a new large HPP called Kambarata-1.
