Households are provided an average of over 14 trillion soums, or $1.15 billion in from the state budget, for subsidized electricity and gas price, the Ministry of Energy said.
The Ministry of Energy noteв that due to the lack of market pricing mechanisms, the state has to subsidize the energy sector.
According to the ministry, the cost of 1 kWh of electricity is at 970 soums, or 8 US cents. With an average consumption of 200 kWh of power per month, the state actually provides a subsidy of 135 thousand soums per consumer. The number of consumers in the country is 7.4 million households.
The cost of 1 cubic meter of gas is estimated at 1,890 soums, or 16 US cents. If one family uses 750 cubic meters of gas during the heating season, on average they receive a subsidy in the amount of 1.13 million soums. Now the total number of gas consumers in Uzbekistan is 4.1 million households.
Thus, today, on average, more than 14 trillion soums of subsidies ($1.15 billion) are allocated to the population for energy subsidies.
“Subsidizing the industry from the state budget leads to a deficit due to the fact that the industry operates at a loss. This does not allow more funds to be channeled into the social sphere. As a result, funds that could actually be used to update the system are used only to cover this difference,” the message says.
In addition, as the energy market regulator expects, energy consumption according to market rules, like other goods, will contribute to the formation and development of a consumer culture, avoidance of waste, independent control and rational distribution of costs.
