On April 5, the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources of Tajikistan announced amendments to the country’s criminal code, introducing prison sentences for electricity use fraud. The move is a first in Central Asia, where illegal electricity consumption usually is an administrative offense, punishable by fines.
The amendments to the criminal code followed a March 27 closed government meeting, during which President Emomali Rahmon voiced concerns over “the irrational use of electricity and losses exceeding acceptable norms” and instructed introducing criminal liability for the illegal use of electricity and failure to pay for it. The bill, immediately drafted by the Ministry of Justice and swiftly approved by the country’s parliament, amended Article 253 of Tajikistan’s Criminal Code – causing property damage through deception or abuse of trust.
Article 253 now stipulates that altering electricity meter readings or bypassing the meter to avoid payment, if committed within one year of an administrative penalty, will result in a fine of 365 to 547 calculation units or imprisonment of up to three years (one calculation unit currently equals around $7.5). If the offense is committed on a large scale, by a person using their official government position, or by a group acting in conspiracy, the punishment is a fine of 800 to 1,000 calculation units or imprisonment of three to six years, with an additional ban on holding certain government positions or engaging in certain activities for up to three years. Offenses committed on an especially large scale or by an organized group or criminal organization are punishable by six to 10 years of imprisonment and a ban on holding certain government positions or engaging in certain activities for up to 5 years.
“Large scale” refers to property damage valued at more than 1,000 calculation units; “especially large scale” refers to property damage valued at more than 2,000 calculation units. However, if the offender, excluding especially large-scale offenses, fully compensates the material damage before the court issues a verdict, the court may impose a fine and forgo a prison sentence.
When introducing the draft bill to lawmakers, Minister of Justice Muzaffar Ashouriyon noted that consumers tampering with meter readings or bypassing the meters to avoid paying for electricity are “damaging the economic interests of the country.”
The minister, however, didn’t speak to how such fraud is often an economic necessity in Tajikistan, where the average monthly income hovers around $200, especially in the light of the April 1 15 percent hike in electricity prices. Since 2010, the cost of electricity for household consumers has increased fourfold, in line with the World Bank recommendations to align the price of electricity with the cost of its production to make the country’s electricity sector self-sufficient and less reliant on foreign investment. But the price realignments are outpacing both the growth of salaries and pensions in Tajikistan and the efficiency of the electricity sector in meeting the consumption needs of the growing population.
Over 30 years after becoming independent, Tajikistan still requires significant foreign investment in energy infrastructure and institutional reforms of the energy sector. Barqi Tojik, the state monopoly on electricity production and distribution, holds debt equal to a third of the country’s GDP. Energy production over-relies on glacier-fed hydropower, which is subject to large fluctuations and diminishing resources in the light of the climate change and melting glaciers. The government continues plunging vast resources into Rogun, a 3,600 MW power plant that has been in construction since 1976 and has blown a budget hole half the size of the country’s GDP.
Residents of Tajikistan still face electricity rationing, scheduled but unannounced blackouts that usually last from early October well into spring, colloquially known as the “electricity limit.” The limit results in economic losses of up to 3 percent of the country’s GDP and of up to a third of the country’s agricultural output, hampering the ability of Tajikistan’s residents to pay the rising cost of electricity.
Criminalizing electricity use fraud, the latest desperate move to shore up the inefficient energy sector, might do little to change behavior, given an economically-strained population in need of electricity for survival.