BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 27. Taking Yangiyo'l
District as an example, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said
that outdated infrastructure and weak oversight were causing
mounting losses in the country's electricity and gas networks.
This was reflected in the statement published by the official
channel of the Press Secretary to the President of the Republic of
Uzbekistan following a government meeting on the industry's
priorities.
The district has 1,400 kilometers of electricity transmission
lines and 422 transformers. Over the past five years, electricity
consumption has risen 50%, increasing from 68 million
kilowatt-hours to 102 million kWh, while only 60 transformers and
240 kilometers of power lines have been upgraded during the same
period.
Since the beginning of the year, electricity losses in the
district have reached 30 million kWh, and 37 accidents have been
recorded across the network, Mirziyoyev said.
The president also pointed to weak payment collection, saying
overdue consumer debt had climbed to 43 billion Uzbek soums (about
43.5 million), including 9.4 billion soums (around $784 870)
classified as unrecoverable.
According to Mirziyoyev, 829 consumers are using electricity
meters incompatible with the country's automated metering system
(ASKUE), while another 2,000 meters are failing to transmit
consumption data. He also said 48 companies that reported zero
taxable activity consumed a combined 871,000 kWh of electricity
during the first six months of the year.
Mirziyoyev said similar problems persist in the natural gas
sector, where more than 5,000 gas meters are not transmitting data,
contributing to outstanding debt of 188 billion Uzbek soums
(approx. $15.7 million).
