Tajikistan has joined countries of the region to help Kyrgyzstan reduce electricity shortages.  

Tajikistan has reportedly begun delivering electricity in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, which is currently facing electricity shortages due to high water stress.  

“Tajikistan now has enough electricity and they have offered [electricity] to us.  We will import 1 million kwh of electricity per day,” Kyrgyz Minister of Energy Doskul Bekmurzayev told reporters in Bishkek on October 1. 

The minister has refrained from naming the price.  He just noted that Kyrgyzstan plans to import 30-50 million kWh of electricity from Tajikistan this year.

Kyrgyzstan has earlier reached agreements on importing of electricity from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, experts in Tajikistan are wondering if Tajikistan will have enough electricity in the coming winter.

It is to be noted that Tajikistan has sufficient summer-time (defined as May 1 to September 30) hydropower surpluses to export to the neighboring countries.   

Suffering from lack of investment, Kyrgyzstan’s energy sector is characterized by aged infrastructure and significant losses.  System wear and tear is gauged at over 50%: significant deterioration of energy assets and poor sector development are the result of heavy subsidies, particularly for electricity consumption, which drain resources for system maintenance and investment.