Tajikistan introduces 10-year prison sentence for illegal electricity use

DUSHANBE: Tajikistan has introduced 10-year prison sentence for those using electricity illegally as a decades-long energy crisis caused by water shortages worsens in the poor Central Asian country.

Tajikistan's electricity consumption is limited for about six months per year due to its outdated energy infrastructure struggles to keep up with rising demand. 

The country's energy and water resources ministry on Saturday announced measures to introduce "criminal liability for violations of regulations on the use of electricity".

In a sign of how tightly the country controls the press and flow of information, it was only reported by independent media outlets on Monday.

Under the new rules, anybody found trying to disconnect or bypass an electricity meter will face up to 10 years in prison.

Ex-Soviet Tajikistan is ruled by President Emomali Rakhmon, a former state farm boss who has held power since 1992.

Justice Minister Rustam Shoemurod said earlier in April that those who alter meter readings or bypass them to avoid payments are "seriously damaging the country's economic interests".

A shortage of water needed to fuel hydroelectric plants, which generate about 95% of electricity output in Tajikistan, has led to years of regular power outages.

In March, Rakhmon said he was concerned about the irrational use of electricity in the Central Asian country, where the average salary is below $240.

He is pushing the colossal Rogun hydro power plant as a possible solution to the power crisis.

First envisioned in the 1970s under the Soviet Union, it was hit with setbacks due to the Soviet collapse and Tajik civil war in the 1990s.

Rakhmon's plan, revived in the 2000s, has been beset by ballooning costs -- estimated at more than $6 billion.