Kyrgyzstan launches negotiations with Kazakhstan about electricity purchasing

“Kyrgyzstan has launched negotiations with Kazakhstan about possible electricity purchasing,” Yury Danilov head of the fuel and energy sector committee of the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan said in an interview with the German Deutsche Welle today.

 “The issue of energy crisis in Kyrgyzstan will be raised in the Parliament soon. It is expected that lawmakers will demand government and the Premier Chudinov answer whose fault is that and what to do next? Our committee prepares answers and comments,” Danilov noted.

 “First, 90 percent of heating in Kyrgyzstan is transferred to electricity. We have never had that before. Second, it became so easy to steal electricity that even the lazy ones do it. We suffer a 30-40 percent commercial loss, which simply means that 40 percent of electricity produced is stolen! Water is needed for electricity production, but three past years saw low level of water in the Toktogul reservoir (11bln cubic meters when the annual limit of 17bln). Third, the last winter was no bargaining and we have entered it with our reserves half empty. So it was a complex of factors,” Danilov said when asked about possible cause of the energy crisis.

 The lawmaker believes that government should offer people the alternative. “No gas, no electricity. What to do? The coal is also a big problem now,” Danilov said.

The Deutsche Welle notes that government’s prognosis about electricity supply is unpromising. The crisis may last for another three years. And electricity restrictions do not seem to give expected results. Experts now start debating about economic, food and even national security of the country.