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Residents of Astana may soon see their electricity bills increase as the city's power supplier, Astana-REC, prepares to submit a request for higher tariffs. This move comes in response to substantial financial losses incurred by the company.

Reasons for the Proposed Tariff Increase

The primary drivers behind Astana-REC's proposal to raise electricity prices are accumulated losses in its commercial activities, recent increases in electricity supply tariffs, and consistently rising electricity purchase prices from power plants. These factors collectively contribute to increased network losses during electricity transmission.

Since 2023, Kazakhstan has operated under a unified energy procurement model. Currently, Astana-REC purchases electricity at approximately 13 tenge per kilowatt-hour (kWh) before VAT. However, to cover nearly 10% of losses within the city's electrical grid, the company must acquire electricity from the wholesale market at a significantly higher average price of around 32 tenge per kWh (excluding VAT).

As of May 2025, the maximum retail tariff for electricity sales in Astana was set at 31.18 tenge per kWh (excluding VAT). For residential consumers, this tariff is lower, averaging 25.57 tenge including VAT.

Significant Financial Losses Reported

According to Astana-REC's 2025 financial statements, the company has accumulated losses amounting to 11.2 billion tenge. This represents a dramatic increase compared to the previous year, when losses were reported at 264 million tenge.

A substantial portion of these losses, specifically 8 billion tenge, stems from commercial activities undertaken by Astana-REC since the beginning of 2025. In these operations, the company was compelled to subsidize tariffs for the public sector using funds designated for legal entities.

Investment in Infrastructure

Despite the financial challenges, Astana-REC fully utilized its allocated 6.8 billion tenge investment program last year. These funds were directed towards crucial infrastructure upgrades, including the repair of substations and power grids, modernization of relay protection systems, continued implementation of the Automated System for Commercial Accounting of Electricity (ASKUE), procurement of fixed assets, and the construction and reconstruction of facilities.

The company aims to increase the implementation of the ASKUE system to 49% and is participating in a national project focused on modernizing the energy and utility sectors.

This information was reported by the Infohub.kz news agency.