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Average monthly electricity consumption per household fell from 212 kWh in 2023 to 184 kWh in 2025 — a decline of 13% — while gas use dropped from 431 to 342 cubic metres over the same period, a reduction of 21%. Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Khurshed Mustafayev, who oversees the oil and gas sector, presented the figures at a press conference on 14 October 2026, describing the trend as evidence that tariff reforms are reshaping how households use energy.
Mustafayev attributed the decline to what he called a gradually forming culture of energy consumption among the population. He framed the shift as a direct consequence of the government’s tariff reform programme, saying the data showed residents were moving toward greater efficiency and economy in their use of electricity and gas. The ministry characterised the trend as a positive development.
Tiered Tariffs and a New Consumption Band
The most recent round of tariff increases took effect on 1 June 2026, covering both electricity and natural gas for residential consumers. The government retained a differentiated tariff structure in which the rate paid per unit rises with the volume consumed, an approach designed to protect low-volume users while creating a financial incentive for households to reduce heavy consumption. For electricity, a new pricing tier was introduced covering usage between 201 and 500 kWh per month — a band that, based on the 2023 average of 212 kWh, would have captured a significant share of the household population at the time the reform was designed.
The June 2026 increases were not the first. Since the start of 2026, a formal annual indexation mechanism has been in place for both electricity and gas tariffs. Under that mechanism, rates are adjusted each year in line with annual inflation, subject to a ceiling of 10%. The indexation framework signals that tariff increases are now a recurring feature of household energy costs rather than one-off adjustments, which may itself be influencing longer-term consumption decisions.
Context and Longer-Term Targets
The consumption data Mustafayev cited covers the period from 2023 to 2025, predating the June 2026 tariff round. The 13% fall in electricity use and 21% fall in gas use therefore reflect the cumulative effect of earlier price increases rather than the most recent adjustments, whose impact on consumption patterns has not yet been publicly reported. Whether the June 2026 increases will produce a further reduction — or whether households have already made the most accessible efficiency gains — remains to be seen.
The ministry’s press conference came a day after Spot.uz reported that the government is targeting a 30–40% reduction in the cost of heating by 2030, a longer-term goal that sits alongside the tariff reform agenda. The ministry did not provide a regional or income-level breakdown of the consumption changes, leaving open the question of whether the decline is distributed evenly across the population or concentrated among higher-income households with greater capacity to invest in efficiency measures.