Uzbeks Use Electricity in Power-Struggle with Tajiks

Officially, Uzbekistan says Tajikistan cannot use its electricity grid to import power from Kyrgyzstan because the system cannot take the extra load. However, energy analysts in Dushanbe cast doubt on this explanation, saying the real reason why the Uzbeks are blocking Kyrgyz supplies for Tajikistan’s giant aluminium plant is that they want to sell their own electricity instead.



The Kyrgyz electricity should have started coming on stream on October 1, via Uzbek power lines. But Tashkent’s energy bosses refused to allow that to happen, saying it would overload their grid.



It is not the first time Tajikistan has faced this difficulty. Last year, too, the Uzbeks refused to allow Kyrgyz electricity to cross their territory to reach Tajikistan, so Dushanbe was forced to buy Uzbek power at 2.6 cents per kilowatt/hour. The Kyrgyz are currently charging 1.2 cents per kw/h. The Uzbeks cited similar technical problems in 2004 when they refused to allow Tajikistan to export electricity to Russia.



Sources in the Tajik energy sector tell NBCentralAsia that Uzbekistan does have the capacity to handle the kind of volumes involved, but that it wants to exploit the situation to sell the Tajiks its own, more costly electricity since it is well aware that they need power to run the aluminium plant, a major revenue-earning enterprise.



Tajikistan traditionally suffers serious power shortages in winter, with a deficit of around two billion kw/h, but it generates more than that amount of excess electricity over the summer.



Every year, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan sign a new agreement setting out how they will exchange electricity. The arrangement is generally that the Uzbeks supply the Tajiks with 600 million kw/h over the autumn and winter months, and get 850 million kw/h back from them over the summer.



However, last year the Tajiks only imported 450 million kw/ from Uzbekistan last year, forcing them to seek additional electricity from Kyrgyzstan.



Energy experts say that until the planned “South-North” high-voltage power line, which will link the Tajik network with that of other countries and bypass the Uzbek grid, is up and running, Tashkent will continue to exploit the lack of a direct Tajik-Kyrgyz connection to exert pressure on both neighbours.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)