Deputy Head of the Economic Department Sergei Kondratiev commented to Sputnik Radio (Uzbek editorial office) on the possibility of introducing prepayment for electricity in Uzbekistan.
However, this is not a very common practice, Sergei Kondratiev, senior expert at the Institute for Energy and Finance noted.
According to him, as a rule, people first receive a service, and then they pay for it.
Of course, there are cases when a consumer chooses a prepaid tariff: he pays first for the planned consumption volume, then receives this electricity, and then the final recalculation takes place.
However, this "prepayment" option is always voluntary, it is impossible to force to switch to it, the expert emphasized.
The incomes of the population and companies are decreasing, which, in turn, leads to the fact that not all consumers can pay for electricity on time and in full.“I don’t even remember the cases when the whole country and all consumers would switch to prepaid tariffs. Even in Soviet times, in the planned socialist economy, we usually paid upon the service provided, and not before. Moreover, we did not receive threats of disconnection in case of non-payment for future consumption," Kondratiev said in an interview with Sputnik Uzbekistan.
The expert believes that in these conditions it is not surprising that the regulator is trying to introduce such a measure as prepayment.
He noted that the initiative of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic, may be related to the solvency of demand, since in economic terms, the last six months have been difficult for both commercial and household consumers.“It seems to me, that this measure is not a market one. It will not be effective. I think that economic incentives would be more effective here. For example, provision of discounts if a consumer chooses a prepaid tariff, or if he pays in advance, or fully consumed electricity on time. It would be more effective," Kondratiev explained. The full expert’s commentary on why the prepaid system has more disadvantages than advantages, listen to the radio podcast.

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