BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 29. Mechanisms of a pilot project to abolish the differentiation of electricity tariffs by categories of consumers were discussed in the capital of Kazakhstan - Almaty, Trend reports via Kazakh media.
First Deputy Chairman of the Agency for Protection and Development of Competition of the Republic of Kazakhstan Rustam Akhmetov noted that, presently, the tariffs of energy supply organizations are differentiated by consumer groups: household, legal entities and budgetary organizations.
According to Akhmetov, tariffs for household consumers are differentiated downward due to artificial increases for legal consumers. As a result, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) throughout the country overpay 31 billion tenge ($64.8 million) annually.
SMEs as a large energy-intensive companies buy electricity directly from power plants, and differentiation does not apply to them.
“The purpose of these transformations is not to increase the tariff as such, but to create a modern market for electricity supply services. The advantages of phasing out the differentiation of tariffs by categories of consumers will be getting rid of communal energy dependence, that is, consumers' attachment to one energy supply organization,” he also said.
“Consumers will have the opportunity to change the energy supply organization if necessary. This guarantees the choice of lowest price among all offers on the market, in the long term, and will improve the quality of service, at the same time developing additional services,” Akhmetov noted.
The pilot project is being implemented within the framework of the National Entrepreneurship Development Project for 2021-2025 (approved by the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan), abolition of tariff differentiation will be carried out over several years,” he said.
The project started in pilot mode, in 2021, in three regions - Almaty, West Kazakhstan and Kostanay regions.