Kabul faces blackouts over unpaid bills for imported power

Kabul could face a winter of power outages as concerns grow over the amount owed to neighboring countries that supply Afghanistan with electricity.

According to officials from Afghanistan’s power supplier, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), the country owes its neighbors $62 million.

DABS officials said however that they have not received any warnings about imminent disconnections.

However, the Afghan public is heavily indebted to DABS, to the tune of $500 million, officials confirmed.

Safiullah Ahmadzai, acting CEO of DABS, told Ariana News that they are working on a plan to recoup money owed to them.

“Some customers and (former) politicians still owe money. We are working on a mechanism to formulate a policy to collect the electricity tariffs owed by customers. InshAllah, the work will be completed and the money collected,” said Ahmadzai.

DABS also warned homeowners, tenants, business owners, former politicians and warlords to pay their outstanding bills or face losing their properties.

Ahmadzai said they have two options: pay their bills or their properties will be sold on auction.

Afghanistan relies heavily on its neighbors for electricity at buys power at a cost of $300 million a year from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran.

There is however one key domestic supplier – Bayat Power which is the largest (and only domestic) natural gas power producer in the country and serves about one million Afghans.

Bayat Power, the region’s most technologically advanced gas-fired electric power plant, is also Afghan Gas Enterprises’ (AGE) only commercial customer. AGE is responsible for the extraction and supply of natural gas.