President outlines priority tasks to improve management and strengthen accountability in the energy sector

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev chaired a meeting on priority tasks in the fuel and energy sector.

The Head of State noted that over the past ten years, large-scale reforms have been carried out in the energy sector. The necessary legal and institutional framework has been established to attract private sector participation and foreign investment.

As a result, $23 billion in foreign investment has been attracted to the sector, and power generation facilities with a total capacity of 9.5 gigawatts have been commissioned. In addition, 30 trillion soums have been allocated for the modernization of electricity and gas networks, substations, transformers, and gas distribution infrastructure.

At the same time, the President noted that serious shortcomings remain in the effective use of these opportunities, system management, executive discipline, and local oversight.

"We must speak frankly: the problem in the energy sector is not financing. We secure all the funding that is needed. The problem lies in the management of the system itself," the President stressed.

It was noted that although the level of infrastructure development is virtually the same in some regions, the quality of electricity and gas supply differs significantly. This is primarily due to differences in managerial discipline, oversight, and the personal responsibility of officials.

During June and July of this year, about 4,000 accidents occurred in electricity networks. As a result, households and businesses in some regions were left without electricity for up to 8–10 hours. Moreover, in many regions, the growth in electricity consumption and the increased load on infrastructure had not been taken into account in advance.

Electricity losses in the networks amount to 17.2 percent. Over the past six months, electricity losses totaled 4.8 billion kilowatt-hours.

Despite the introduction of automated electricity and gas metering systems, hundreds of thousands of electricity and gas meters are not transmitting data to the centralized system. This hinders accurate accounting of consumption, the reduction of losses, and the reduction of accounts receivable.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized that the results of the work of every leader in the energy sector must, above all, be reflected in the daily lives of the population and the activities of entrepreneurs.

For serious shortcomings in the areas under their responsibility, the Minister of Energy and the head of Regional Electric Networks JSC were dismissed from their posts. The heads of National Electric Networks of Uzbekistan JSC, Thermal Power Plants JSC, Uztransgaz JSC, and Hududgaztaminot JSC were placed on probation until the end of the year.

It was noted that the new leadership of the Ministry of Energy, Regional Electric Networks, and Uzenergyinspection must introduce a fundamentally new approach to organizing their work, starting today.

At the meeting, a new system for organizing work to ensure the supply of electricity and gas at the level of every district and every mahalla was defined. An energy balance will be prepared for each territory, taking into account the needs of the population, businesses, and social facilities.

It will be clearly determined in which mahallas electrical networks, transformers, and gas distribution equipment are to be modernized. Targeted programs will be developed to reduce the number of accidents, connect meters to the unified system, and significantly reduce energy losses and accounts receivable.

The task was set to establish an exemplary system in this area in Yangiyul district. In all 51 mahallas of the district, the monthly, quarterly, and annual demand of the population and businesses for electricity and natural gas will be fully assessed.

Based on a detailed plan, the necessary infrastructure, repair works, and sources of financing will be identified. All activities are to be completed by October 1, turning Yangiyul district into a model for electricity and gas supply.

In the future, this experience will be extended to all districts and cities of the republic. Leaders of the energy sector will be assigned to the most challenging districts and will organize their work jointly with local khokimiyats.

Special attention was given to the widespread introduction of digital technologies and artificial intelligence in the energy sector.

A Center for the Digitalization of the Fuel and Energy Complex and the Introduction of Artificial Intelligence Technologies will be established within the Ministry of Energy. The Center will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the entire "generation – transmission – distribution – supply" chain and develop optimal scenarios for the sector's development.

Data from the automated electricity and gas metering systems will be analyzed using artificial intelligence, and a platform will also be launched to automatically identify cases of suspicious consumption, losses, and outstanding debt.

Furthermore, the performance of each manager and employee in the sector will be assessed against specific key performance indicators. The main criteria will include the number of emergency and scheduled outages, the level of losses, the volume of accounts receivable, the availability of reserve capacity, and the implementation of repair programmes.

The meeting also considered preparations for the autumn-winter season. At present, 1,916 mahallas are experiencing difficulties with natural gas supply.

Precise calculations will be prepared to improve the stability of heating systems in residential buildings, strengthen the electricity infrastructure, and meet the additional demand for electricity in these areas. A separate programme will be developed for mahallas requiring priority financing.

Currently, 3.7 million households use liquefied gas. It was noted that, despite the digitalisation and streamlining of the system, the issue of ensuring the timely and guaranteed supply of liquefied gas to consumers has not yet been fully resolved.

The task was set to broadly involve the private sector in the supply of liquefied gas. This new practice will first be introduced in the Andijan region.

Entrepreneurs will be allowed to supply households and businesses with liquefied gas imported independently or purchased through exchange trading. Families included in the Unified Register of Social Protection will be provided with subsidies for the purchase of liquefied gas. By the end of the year, the “Andijan model” will be introduced in this area and subsequently extended to other regions.

The task was also set to increase liquefied gas production from the planned 520,000 tonnes to 606,000 tonnes by the end of the year.

In addition, it was proposed to differentiate the capacity of gas cylinders based on the actual needs of households. The system of transporting, storing, and distributing liquefied gas will be revised in line with international experience and standards.

The Head of State also separately addressed the issue of training personnel for the energy sector who possess modern knowledge and practical skills.

Currently, about 5,500 students study energy-related fields at 25 technical higher education institutions. However, due to the insufficient integration of the educational process with practical training, graduates require up to two to three years to fully adapt to their professional activities.

In this regard, instructions were given to completely update educational programmes in fuel and energy disciplines at higher education institutions, as well as to bring their laboratories and practical training facilities into line with modern requirements.

Starting from the new academic year, half of all third-year students and all fourth-year students will be enrolled in the dual education system. Priority attention will be given to training specialists in solar and wind power generation, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and other modern technologies.

Following the meeting, the responsible officials were instructed to ensure the high-quality implementation of the assigned tasks within the established timeframes, as well as to fundamentally strengthen executive discipline and personal accountability across the sector.