As electricity bills remain unpaid, Afghanistan may plunge into darkness | Business and Economic News

Neighboring countries provide about 78% of Afghanistan’s electricity, but they have not been paid since the Taliban took over.

Given that the three-month payment deadline has expired, the Afghan National Electric Company has called on a UN-led mission to provide US$90 million to pay the outstanding bills of the Central Asian supplier before the country’s power outages.

Since the Taliban began taking control of Afghanistan in mid-August, they have not paid electricity bills to neighboring countries, which provide approximately 78% of their electricity needs. This creates another problem for the new government, which is struggling to cope with the economic cash crunch, partly because the United States and other allies have frozen the country’s overseas reserves.

Da Afghanistan’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Safyula Ahmedzai said on Wednesday that Afghanistan usually pays Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Iran a total of 20-25 million U.S. dollars each month. The unpaid bills are now $62 million. He added that these countries may cut off electricity supply “at any time.”

“We have asked UNAMA in Kabul to assist the Afghan people to pay for the country’s electricity suppliers as part of their humanitarian assistance,” Ahmed Zai said on the phone, referring to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. . He said the mission asked for approximately US$90 million because the unpaid bills would jump to approximately US$85 million within a week.

Ahmed Zai said that the UN delegation has not yet responded to this request.

Currently, there are no major power outages in Kabul or elsewhere in Afghanistan. Ahmed Zai said that currently only 38% of Afghanistan’s 38 million people have access to electricity.

Bilal Karimi, a spokesman for the organization, said by phone that the Taliban government is seeking to pay electricity bills and called on neighboring countries to avoid cutting off electricity supplies. “We have a good relationship with them, and we don’t want them to stop giving us power,” he added.

With the Taliban coming to power after the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, the national power company has been trying to charge consumers due to the poor security and economic conditions.

Power outages are common in Afghanistan, even during the administration of a US-backed government. The Taliban attacked the transmission tower last year, which caused a power outage in Kabul, and was partly responsible for this situation.

Afghanistan needs approximately 1,600 megawatts of electricity each year. Ahmed Zai said that Afghanistan’s domestic energy, including hydroelectric power plants, solar panels and fossil fuels, meets about 22% of the country’s needs.