Energy Minister of Kyrgyzstan Taalaibek Ibraev admitted in an interview with 24.kg news agency that Kyrgyzstan is facing a challenging winter. Water reserves in reservoirs are lower, electricity imports are rising, and tariffs will increase annually in the coming years.
— How many hydropower plants will be commissioned this year?
— 17-18 small plants are planned. Four are already operational. Most are being built with funds from the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund. The state is taking on major projects—the Orto-Tokoi and Papan HPPs, and the reconstruction of Lebedinovskaya.
— Isn’t it risky to build so many HPPs if water might run out tomorrow?
— Our ancestors used to say: the sky won’t fall, women won’t stop giving birth, and the water won’t stop flowing. Some years are low-water, others are high-water, but the water will never disappear. If it runs out, life will cease.
— How much electricity will we have to buy abroad?
— In 2024, we imported 3.8 billion kilowatt-hours. This year, contracts have been signed for 4.2-4.3 billion. We’re buying from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. The price is confidential; the contract prohibits disclosure.
— You said the winter would be tough. Why?
— In 2024, there were 12.4 billion cubic meters of water in the reservoirs for the winter. Now there are 1.6 billion less. That’s a shortfall of 1.6 billion kilowatt-hours of domestic generation. So we’re buying more and asking people to save electricity.
— Will there be blackouts?
— These aren’t blackouts, but rather regulatory measures. If a transformer is overloaded, it will burn out. One costs up to $700,000 and takes four months to manufacture. To avoid this, we’re installing 500,000 smart meters. They’ll strictly limit consumption: if you have a contract for 5 kilowatts, you can’t take more.
— Will the tariffs remain the same?
— Today, our electricity production cost is 2.4–2.5 soms, and we sell it for less. This is unacceptable. We’ve adopted a tariff policy until 2030. Prices will increase by 10–15 percent annually. We’ll only reach production costs by 2030.
— What about cryptocurrency mining?
— Large data centers operate on imported energy from Russia and pay for transit through Kazakhstan. The state receives taxes and transit fees. We don’t supply domestic energy for mining; it’s not enough.
— What is your message to Kyrgyzstanis?
— Save electricity, especially during peak load hours. Starting next year, we’ll have an automated metering system: no requests, only strict rules.
