In September, Tajikistan’s government announced the details of its agreement with Uzbekistan on the import of electricity. In accordance with the Agreement between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Dushanbe exports electricity to Tashkent at a price that is lower than that of internal market, i.e. the price of electricity for citizens of Tajikistan. Nevertheless, state authorities claim that it is a profitable deal.

According to Tajik authorities, Uzbekistan imports Tajik electricity at the price of US$1.5 cents per kilowatt. According to the agreement between the states, Uzbekistan will receive 550 million kilowatt at the aforementioned price. However, after the latest price increase, the Tajik population pays more for electricity than Uzbekistan: US$1.6 cents per kilowatt. Moreover, Tajik authorities claim that US$1.5 cents is only the net value of the electricity without value added tax and expenses for transit of electricity from Tajikistan to Uzbekistan.

Nevertheless, Tajik authorities argue that it is more profitable for Tajikistan to deliver electricity at such a low price than to waste water from the reservoirs during the summer time for nothing. Representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Industry of Tajikistan explain that the daily production of electricity in Tajikistan during this season amounts to 75 million kilowatts, while the internal daily consumption is only 30-40 million kilowatts. This implies large scale waste of water from the Nurek reservoir (the largest hydrostation in Tajikistan), which is full to the brims this year.

On the one hand, the arguments of the Tajik authorities seem quite plausible: it is better to have less than nothing. Furthermore, the attempts of Tajik authorities to assert themselves on foreign markets seem economically reasonable in conditions of severe market competition. For instance, Tajikistan was selling the same volume of electricity to Afghanistan during the winter during a severe internal energy crisis “not to lose foreign markets”.  Tajik Member of Parliament Shodi Shabdolov, representing the Communist Party, supports the authorities’ arguments: “We should take into consideration that Tajikistan is selling summer surplus of its electricity. We cannot save the electricity from hydro stations ‘until better times’”. Nevertheless, according to him, Uzbekistan should in turn offer the same price for electricity export to Tajikistan during winter. In practice, Tashkent sells electricity to Dushanbe at a price which is several times higher during winter.

On the other hand, some experts claim that against the background of increased electricity prices for the population of Tajikistan, which are according to authorities still “the cheapest in the world” and which “demand a price increase in order to make the energy sector attractive for investors”, selling electricity to Uzbekistan at US$1.5 cents seems shocking. According to expert Shokirjon Khakimov, “selling electricity to Uzbekistan cheaper than to their own population contradicts the national interests of Tajikistan”. Bahodur Khabibov, head of the Consumer Union, claims that the population of Tajikistan will never accept “selling electricity for a song” to another country regardless of any economic or political reasons.

Apart from economic motivations, there are also political aspects to the deal. This agreement on electricity sale can help resolving the contradictions in the complex bilateral relationships between two countries. For instance, both sides lately decided to resume the work of their intergovernmental commission after a break of seven years. Mirzosharif Islomiddinov, head of the Tajik Parliament Committee on energy and industry, thinks that “this agreement contributes to the normalization of the relationships between the two states, particularly in water and energy.” The Tajik MP expressed hope that Uzbek authorities will take this agreement into consideration during winter time, when they will decide about the price for electricity imported by Tajikistan.

All in all, the Tajik authorities’ argument of “better less than nothing” appears justified economically and politically. However, many experts claim that such a ‘deal’ is humiliating for the Tajik people who pay more than their neighbor for their own electricity. The first counterplea for the ‘deal’ is that if the Tajik government sells the electricity to Uzbekistan at “summer prices” taking into consideration the seasonal water surplus, then the Tajik population should also have “winter” and “summer” prices on electricity. According to some experts, the introduction of seasonal tariffs in Tajikistan would provide a better understanding and acceptance of the negotiations processes between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the energy sphere. Second, Uzbekistan’s price for electricity imported by Tajikistan during winter should be adequate, or at least take into consideration the low price of Tajik electricity during summer.