Kazakhstan plans to introduce fees for entrepreneurs on unused electrical capacity. The move was reported by infohub.kz, citing the Prosecutor General's Office.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office press service, the Committee for the Protection of Investors' Rights secured the cancellation of unlawful requirements imposed on entrepreneurs. Following prosecutorial oversight, 1,294 administrative proceedings were opened, with total fines amounting to about 220 million tenge.
"In one of the country's major cities, investors seeking technical specifications for connection to utility networks faced an additional administrative barrier: they were required to obtain prior approval from the local executive body. This requirement was not stipulated by law and for several years created unjustified obstacles for business. At the Committee's initiative, the unlawful practice was stopped and the additional approval requirement was abolished," the press service said.
The Committee also identified a systemic problem: large enterprises reserve significant volumes of electrical capacity for the long term but do not use them.
"Amid electricity shortages, this practice limits the ability to connect new production facilities and implement investment projects. To address the problem, the authorized body — the Committee for the Regulation of Natural Monopolies under the Ministry of National Economy — has prepared legislative amendments providing for the introduction of fees for holding unused electrical capacity," the statement said.
The measure is intended to encourage enterprises to release excess reserves and ensure a more rational distribution of available resources.
"To eliminate the identified violations, the Committee for the Regulation of Natural Monopolies has developed a Plan of Priority Actions and prepared amendments to subordinate regulatory legal acts," the Prosecutor General's Office said.