Afghanistan asks Tajikistan to increase the power supply

Afghan state-owned utility company Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) has applied to the Tajik authorities asking to increase the power supply to Afghanistan from 80 megawatts (MW) to 120 MW. 

DABS says similar negotiations on increasing the power supply are being conducted with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan as well.   

Afghan state-owned utility company said on January 6 that Uzbekistan has stopped supplying electricity to Afghanistan “for technical problem.” 

Energy Central News said on January 7 that Kabul had only 20 minutes of electricity over the past 24 hours following a technical problem that stopped the supply of Uzbekistan’s electricity to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan suffers from a chronic power shortage, with less than 40 percent of the population even connected to the grid, according to World Bank data. Three-quarters of the country’s electricity is reportedly imported from the neighboring countries of Uzbekistan, Iran, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.  

Avesta notes that according to data from Tajikistan’s energy sector, an average daily electricity generation in Tajikistan in recent days has amounted to more than 67.4 million kWh, which is more than 2.5 million kWh more than in the same period last year. 

Barqi Tojik (Tajikistan’s national power utility company) reintroduced power rationing across most of the country in response to a drop in water levels at a key hydroelectric dam.  As a result of the rationing coming into effect on December 5, residential customers in rural areas now have no electricity from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m.