«We have welcomed the announcements of plans to revise electricity tariffs,» World Bank Vice President Anna Bjerde said today at a meeting with journalists.
According to her, the tariffs are changed in order to increase the coverage of costs of the energy sector. At the same time, the World Bank was glad to know that there would be social tariffs to support vulnerable groups of the population.
«I was also delighted to hear about opening of opportunities for development of renewable energy sources. This is a positive characteristic,» Anna Bjerde said.
«Low tariffs lead to higher consumption because it is cost-efficiently. Low tariffs stimulate consumption more than necessary. Therefore, we support the revision of tariffs, because in Kyrgyzstan they are the lowest in Europe and Central Asia region. But at the same time, we would not like to see that tariff reforms have become a heavy burden for the poor,» she concluded.
