Energy Cuts Cause Coal Prices to Soar in Kyrgyzstan

Announced energy cuts in Kyrgyzstan, including a ban on using electricity for heating and a call by the government for shifting to traditional fuels, have triggered soaring coal prices. Right now, coal is almost twice as expensive as during the same period last year.

Reports from northern Naryn province, where several large coal deposits are located, notes that a tonne of coal is selling for 3000 soms, or 85 US dollars, while last year it was priced less than 50 dollars. At the same time, a tonne of coal from the Sulukta mines in southern Kyrgyzstan is now selling for approximately 150 dollars.

Soaring coal prices have been triggered by the government’s order that banned households from using electric heaters and called for the population to prepare for using traditional fuels, such as coal and mazut, in advance of the winter season. Kyrgyzstan has a predominantly mountainous terrain and winter temperatures can drop as low as -30 Celsius.

Low river levels have resulted in an inability to replenish the country’s largest reservoir, the Toktogul, where hydroelectric stations generate more than 40 percent of the nation’s electricity.

Currently, water in the Toktogul reservoir is said to have dropped to a critically low level due to the extremely large discharges of water needed to produce electricity during this year’s unusually cold winter.

The Kyrgyz Ministry of Education has announced that the energy crisis will force half of all schools using only electric heating to close from December through February. During that period, students will have to study independently at home.

Originally posted and written for: Ferghana.ru

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