The Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan initiates strengthening of control in the field of thermal power engineering
The Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan has developed a separate sectoral law “On Thermal Power Engineering”, aimed at strengthening control functions in this area. This was announced by the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Almasadam Satkaliev at a government meeting on Tuesday in Astana.
In particular, the bill excludes from the Entrepreneurial Code the procedure for conducting control in the field of electricity and heat energy. Control functions in heating networks (within public centralized heat supply systems) are transferred from local executive bodies to the Committee for Nuclear and Energy Supervision and Control.
It is planned that monitoring and control of the entire industry will be carried out through the creation of a Digital Energy Platform.
“This will allow for a consolidated collection of information and analysis of the industry in order to develop the necessary measures for further development,” the minister noted.
At the same time, this project establishes clear and comprehensive full principles of tariff regulation, and the criteria that regulated tariffs for thermal energy must meet, namely, improving the tariff methodology, ensuring an economically justified tariff, and the ability to attract investments.
The bill also provides for the introduction of a mechanism for direct budgetary support for vulnerable segments of the population when heating tariffs are changed to an economically justified level.
The document defines a scheme for identifying a strategic investor for the construction of new plants.
To ensure support for large energy-intensive industrial projects, the bill provides for the use of an investment tariff aimed at selling electricity from a single purchaser at the maximum tariffs of energy-producing organizations to whose busbars industrial facilities are connected.
In order to further improve the mechanism of the Single Purchaser and the Balancing Electricity Market, amendments are provided to revise the priority selection of generation.
Also, the bill involves the redistribution of competencies and responsibilities for policy in the field of heat and power engineering. The Ministry of Energy will be assigned a leadership function in the field of production and transportation of thermal energy.
The implementation of these initiatives will ensure stable operation of the energy system for reliable energy supply to the population and the economy, as well as create a foundation for the rapid development of the energy sector.