On August 1, PM Abdulla Aripov, on the instruction of the president,chaired a government meeting on fuel and energy matters attended by heads of ministries and departments, the spokesman to the PM Bekzod Khidoyatov said.
According to him, Abdulla Aripov discussed the scrapping of the “natural gas price ceiling”; now the state will let float their prices.
In order to protect consumer rights, the president instructed the government, along with the introduction of market mechanisms, not to allow unjustified increases in gas prices.
“State intervention in price regulation has led to a violation of the competitive environment. Therefore, there will be no price ceiling; prices will be determined by the market. The Competition Committee and the Prosecutor General’s Office were instructed by the president to stabilize prices. This will be implemented in the same way as in the example of liberalizing prices for bread and wheat,” said Bekzod Khidoyatov.
He added that giving businesses the freedom to determine prices "does not mean the ability to do whatever they want."
In addition, natural gas stations will be required to install a system from Uzinfocom to calculate the consumption of compressed gas.
The Ministry of Energy, the Competition Committee and the Prosecutor General's Office will soon hold separate press conferences on changes in the sector.
3,750-soum per cubic meter natural gas retail price ceiling for vehicles, set at the end of May, expired on August 1 in Uzbekistan.
