Ministry of Energy may finance the construction of substations by raising tariffs

According to the press service of the Ministry of Energy, most cases of power outages throughout the country are caused by increased energy consumption. Many multi-apartment residential complexes were built in the Soviet period. The electrification system used at that time was designed for quick power supply of the house, not for ensuring round-the-clock use of TV sets, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, computers, air conditioners, fans that are used in almost every house today.

“Both wires and transformers used in most houses were not designed for such large electricity consumption. Thus, the solution to the problem of stability of power supply depends not only on the Ministry of Energy but also on public utilities. In addition, only replacing all the transformers is not enough, because it is necessary to change all the wiring in houses,” the Energy Ministry stated.

The experience confirms that even after increasing the generation and supply of electricity, the existing power transmission system still may not be able to withstand pressure and therefore will shut down to prevent further problems.

In addition, the situation in recent years has been exacerbated by the construction of new homes. For this reason, the Ministry of Construction and other entities should act jointly with the Energy Ministry to find a solution to the problem.

“New houses under construction should have their new transformers because now they are connected to an existing one. Construction companies complain that there is no place for them; however, there are modern transformers that can be placed in the basements of new buildings. Undoubtedly, this requires large investments, but it is necessary for cutting the existing pressure on electricity units, moreover, they are environmentally friendly and more economical,  and, therefore, are widely used in modern construction in different countries,” the Ministry of Energy said.

Also, in the capital, there is a massive construction of 14- and 16-story monolithic houses, which are not allowed to have gas heating systems according to building standards. These residential complexes are heated by individual boilers that use electricity, which, in turn, increases the load on the network. In this regard, the Ministry of Construction can resolve this problem by demanding construction companies to build mini-boiler rooms, which will not only heat, but also generate electricity for the needs of the new buildings.

The ministry reminded that 90% of the electricity generated in Uzbekistan is produced using natural gas in thermal power plants and it is inappropriate to heat the apartment in this way wasting large amount of gas.

It became known that in order to ensure energy security, the Ministry of Energy is currently developing a program for the construction of new substations. There are two main sources of financing it.

The ministry may take loans and pay them back in the long run (about 25 years), or it may slowly raise tariffs during 3-4 years, which will also make significant contribution to a stable supply of electricity.

“Now the big responsibility is on public-private partnerships. Competition between investors always creates new ways of cost optimization, which will make it possible to implement such a project without increasing tariffs. And this is only part of the work that the Ministry of Energy currently conducts to ensure the energy security in the country,” the ministry concluded.