TASHKENT, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Uzbekistan plans to introduce a wholesale competitive electricity market in the country by 2025, so as to improve management of the industry and reduce the state share, the Uzbek Energy Ministry said on Tuesday.
According to the ministry, the transition will take place in three stages.
Firstly, state electricity companies will face liberalization and private companies will be allowed to obtain licenses to sell electricity.
Later, an operator of the electricity distribution system will be created, and the functions of selling electricity to consumers will gradually be transferred to suppliers with license of selling.
In a final stage, the government will launch an intraday electricity trading platform, which allows excess or deficit volumes of hourly production and consumption of electricity to be traded online.
Uzbekistan, a populous Central Asia nation with almost 35 million people, currently produces more than 60 billion kWh of electricity annually and plans to double it by 2030. Enditem