Tajikistan to increase power exports to Afghanistan

Tajikistan’s state-owned power company, Barki Tojik, has said it intends to increase electricity exports to Afghanistan, despite its own shortages.

According to the head of Barki Tojik, Mahmadumar Asozoda, Tajikistan will increase supply to Afghanistan this year by 17%.

Barki Tojik exported 2.7 billion kilowatt-hours in 2023, which was 124 million kilowatt-hours more than 2022. Of that total, some 1.6 billion kilowatt-hours were supplied to Afghanistan, Asozoda said.

Another 907.5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity was sold to Uzbekistan, and the remaining 144.6 million kilowatt hours went to Kazakhstan.

However, Asozoda also said that the increase to Afghanistan would come despite ongoing electricity rationing for Tajik households, Eurasianet reported.

A rationing regime has been in force for a number of winters in Tajikistan. When the temperature sinks below a certain level, output from the Nurek hydropower plant, which produces most of the country’s electricity needs, grinds to a near-halt.

Under the current system, Tajik households outside the country’s largest urban centers endure blackouts from 8 am to 5 pm and then from 10 pm to 5 am.

Asozoda noted that one factor that influenced their decision to increase power exports to Afghanistan was that the Islamic Emirate was proving to be a “reliable payer”.

On February 1, Tajik Energy and Water Resources Minister Daler Juma announced that Afghanistan had fully paid off its debts for power delivered to date.

IEA officials also confirmed that they had paid off their electricity bills — to the full amount of $627 million — to all its suppliers, which also include Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.