The World Bank Board of Directors has approved a $180 million loan for Uzbekistan to introduce modern electricity metering technologies.

The project aims to reduce the commercial losses of the three regional distribution companies in the city of Tashkent as well as Tashkent and Sirdaryo regions. This is going to be achieved through improved metering and billing infrastructure and business management systems.

Modern electricity meters are to help refine control over the use of energy and bring benefit to suppliers and customers, said Takuya Kamata, a World Bank official in Uzbekistan. These technologies will help monitor and manage energy use, increase efficiency and reliability of engineering systems, he added.

Experts in the bank believe the project will enable distribution companies to improve the collection rate, which in turn will improve their financial position and performance. In general, as part of the project there power suppliers are going to install 1.2 million meters in Tashkent and Sirdaryo regions and introduce a special communication system, and created a centralized energy administration in Tashkent.

The project will also contribute to more efficient use of electricity by providing consumers with more complete information about its use. Along with that people will be instructed on energy efficiency. As the WB representatives say, it ultimately will reduce the energy losses in the medium and long term and will provide an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions, improve the environment.

This project is part of a national electricity metering program. The project concept was developed in close collaboration with Uzbekenergo, Ministry of Finance and the Asian Development Bank.

The latter has already provided a loan to Uzbekistan to fund installation of smart meters in three regions of the nation. (Source: Uzbekistan Today Newspaper)