Mazhilis member Yedil Zhanbyrshin, on behalf of the deputies of the Amanat party faction, addressed a request to Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, asking him to cease the activities of intermediary energy supply organisations.
According to Ratel.kz, the Mazhilis deputy proposes to completely eliminate intermediaries and develop new schemes without them.
"Today, two types of energy supply organisations operate on the market: regulated and unregulated. For regulated ones, which serve the population and the state, tariffs are set with differentiation by consumer groups, aimed at covering operational costs. Meanwhile, unregulated organisations set their own tariff levels; there is no controlling them – they are their own masters," said Yedil Zhanbyrshin.
According to the deputy, data from the national operator KEGOC indicates that in 2023 alone, unregulated organisations supplied 18% of the country's total electricity consumption. Zhanbyrshin also stated that each intermediary earns at least 1 billion tenge per year. By his calculations, more than 120 unregulated energy supply organisations have profits exceeding 150 billion tenge.
At the same time, he claims that some companies receive up to 25 tenge in net profit per kilowatt (kW). This is despite the fact that Kazakhstan's largest power plant – Ekibastuz GRES-1 – sells them electricity at 8 tenge per kW.
Furthermore, the Mazhilis member stated that intermediary energy supply organisations are under the patronage of Kazakhstani oligarchs, living both abroad and in the country. Moreover, their net profit is transferred abroad.
According to journalists, while deputies were formulating the request to the Prime Minister, a certain LLP "AB Energo" had already managed to win a tender for the Main Directorate of Military Infrastructure of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan to supply electricity to the country's military units.
Initially, one kWh was budgeted in the competition at 41.86 tenge including VAT, and the contract amount exceeded 8.2 billion tenge. However, due to the participation of another supplier - LLP "EnergoCompany-PV" - the contract amount dropped to 7.5 billion tenge including VAT, and the cost per kWh dropped from 41.86 to 38.3 tenge. It turns out that in 2024, the Main Directorate of Military Infrastructure saved 697.9 million tenge on electricity.
Furthermore, in February 2024, LLP "AB Energo" signed a contract with JSC "Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport" for 689 million tenge at a tariff of 31.33 tenge per kWh. Initially, LLP "Energy Company 'Qaz Energy'" was declared the winner of the capital's airport tender. However, at the contract signing stage, JSC "Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport", citing that the supplier was on the "list of unreliable suppliers of the National Welfare Fund", refused to conclude the contract.
At the same time, among the competition participants was the already familiar LLP "EnergoCompany-PV". Judging by the results protocol, it should have been the winner: "taking into account the conditional discount size and financial stability indicator, the system determined the contract price at 601.5 million tenge excluding VAT, whereas for LLP "AB Energo" it was 612.8 million tenge". However, the protocol states that all members of the tender commission expressed the view that the bid from "EnergoCompany-PV" did not comply with the tender documentation.
"In the technical specification of the potential supplier, in the sections 'Year of manufacture (the goods must be new, unused, year of manufacture not earlier than (up to three years) before the date of contract signing)', the year of manufacture of the goods '1950' does not comply. According to the technical specification of the tender documentation, the Customer requires goods manufactured in 2024," the protocol states.
It is quite amusing: the members of the tender commission considered that the electricity from LLP "EnergoCompany-PV" was manufactured in 1950, whereas the airport requires the supply of exclusively fresh electricity from 2024.