DUSHANBE, March 12, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Electricity rationing will be eased in Tajikistan beginning on March 13.

Nozirjon Yodgori, a spokesperson for the country’s major electricity supplier, Barqi Tojik, told Asia-Plus Friday afternoon that electricity rationing will be eased elsewhere in the country''s provinces and the supply of daily electricity to rural areas will be increased from 10 to 14 hours.  “Residential customers in rural areas will have electricity from 5:00 am to 1:00 pm and from 5:00 pm to 11:00 pm,” the spokesman said.

At present, water levels at the reservoir powering the Norak HPP are at the level of 866.3 meters above sea level, he said, noting that electricity rationing will be eased due to electric power saving and the nationwide switch to energy-saving light bulbs.  “Tajikistan has saved some 850 million kWh of electricity due to these measures,” Yodgori added.

According to him, the full introduction of the Sangtuda-1 HPP intro operation has given Tajikistan additional 1.4 billion kWh of electricity per year.

“However, it is still premature to speak about the full abandonment of electricity rationing in the country,” the spokesman said.

We will recall that Tajikistan introduced electricity rationing in some of its provinces on November 10, 2009 after a major blackout in the country.  Dushanbe, and the provincial capitals have been provided with electricity without limitations, while only seven hours of electricity were available in rural areas from November 2009 through January 2010 and Barqi Tojik then eased electricity rationing in the provinces twice.

It is to be noted that since last November, Tajikistan’s electricity-distribution system has been operating independently from the unified Central Asian power grid.