Uzbekistan proposes November heating tariff increases alongside expanded family aid

Tashkent heating could rise 30%, while some hot water bills fall

Uzbekistan is proposing new household heating and hot water tariffs from 1 November 2026, with Tashkent's daily heating charge rising from 241.44 to 314 soums per square metre. The changes form part of a wider package that would also provide eligible households with a single payment of 1 million soums in November, expand energy compensation and introduce new rules for liquefied petroleum gas supplies.

The Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services has published the heating proposal for public discussion. Consultations on the package run from 13 to 28 October 2026. The proposed prices and support measures are not yet final decisions. The planned start date falls just four days after consultation closes.

Although heating and hot water tariffs would increase by an average of about 30%, the effect would differ by location and billing method. In Tashkent, households with hot water meters would pay more per cubic metre. For households without meters, the proposed monthly charge is lower than the current amount that includes a 1.5 multiplier.

The draft also connects higher household prices with changes inside the heating industry: a programme to reduce production costs by up to 15%, a technical audit by the end of 2027 and a target to reduce network losses by 25% during 2027. From 2028, annual household tariff adjustments would be linked to inflation and capped at 10%.

The central issue for residents is therefore more specific than a uniform price increase. Their bills would depend on their supplier, heated floor area, metering arrangements and eligibility for assistance, while the proposed efficiency measures would operate on a separate timetable.

What Tashkent residents would pay

For customers of Veolia Energy Tashkent, the proposed household tariffs include value added tax, or VAT. The draft sets out five principal charges:

• Thermal energy: 203,636 soums per gigacalorie, up from 156,643 soums, an increase of about 30%.
• Heating: 314 soums per square metre of heated floor area per day, up from 241.44 soums.
• Metered hot water: 11,607 soums per cubic metre, up from 8,928.67 soums.
• Hot water without a meter: 45,330 soums per person per month.
• Hot water in dormitories with shared showers: 33,720 soums per person per month.

A gigacalorie measures the amount of heat supplied. The charge per square metre is a different billing measure, tied to the size of the heated property and the number of chargeable days. These are distinct tariff categories, not amounts that should automatically be added together.

For illustration, heating a 60 square metre apartment for 30 chargeable days would cost 565,200 soums at the proposed rate, compared with 434,592 soums at the current rate. That is an increase of 130,608 soums for the same area and billing period. This calculation excludes hot water and assumes all 60 square metres are chargeable.

For a household consuming five cubic metres of metered hot water, the charge would rise from 44,643.35 to 58,035 soums, a difference of 13,391.65 soums. Actual bills would vary with consumption.

Why the unmetered charge could decrease

The proposed unmetered hot water tariff illustrates why the comparison baseline matters. The draft describes 45,330 soums per person per month as a 30% increase against the existing tariff without the 1.5 multiplier. However, the current charge including that multiplier is reported as 52,303.39 soums.

Compared with that current payable amount, 45,330 soums would represent a reduction of 6,973.39 soums per person per month, or about 13.3%. The dormitory charge would similarly fall from 38,908.16 to 33,720 soums, a decrease of 5,188.16 soums, also about 13.3%.

These comparisons are consistent: a tariff can rise against a base amount yet fall against a charge that includes an additional multiplier. Describing every household's hot water bill as rising by 30% would therefore miss a material distinction in the proposal.

The full regional tariff picture

The draft covers suppliers in Karakalpakstan and every region of Uzbekistan, as well as Tashkent city. It would also establish hot water tariffs nationwide through a government resolution for the first time. The proposed rates include VAT and vary substantially between service areas.

In the list below, each entry gives four amounts in the same order: thermal energy per gigacalorie; heating per square metre per day; unmetered hot water per person per month; and metered hot water per cubic metre. All figures are in soums.

• Karakalpakstan, Kommunal Issiqlik Taminoti: 261,697; 370; 56,422; 14,707.
• Karakalpakstan, Takhiatash heating networks: 261,697; 368; 58,228; 14,417.
• Andijan region: 163,094; 103; 31,151; 9,753.
• Bukhara regional heating and Bukhoroenergomarkaz: 112,753; 214; 24,084; 6,269.
• Jizzakh region: 116,497; 236; 26,937; 7,107.
• Kashkadarya region: 136,301; 211; 25,374; 8,458.
• Navoi city: 141,960; 141; 29,386; 7,808.
• Zarafshan: 378,560; 418; 78,364; 20,823.
• Uchkuduk: 416,416; 455; 86,198; 22,903.
• Kanimekh district: 274,456; 250; 47,481; 15,095.
• Namangan region and Davlatabad district: 156,198; 300; 32,692; 8,591.
• Samarkand city: 170,084; 279; 37,590; 9,356.
• Nurabad: 477,539; 585; 102,200; 26,270.
• Surkhandarya region: 330,994; 602; 39,719; 6,997.
• Syrdarya region: 93,470; 259; 7,851; 5,608.
• Tashkent regional heating: 133,654; 268; 28,709; 7,351.
• Angren: 133,718; 244; 28,535; 8,692.
• Chirchik: 144,861; 245; 29,537; 7,967.
• Almalyk: 144,040; 202; 29,982; 7,928.
• Fergana regional heating: 187,886; 361; 43,214; 10,523.
• Kirguli Issiqlik Manbai: 218,083; 304; 51,250; 12,212.
• Khorezm region: 186,394; 300; 66,095; 12,962.
• Tashkent city, Veolia Energy Tashkent: 203,636; 314; 45,330; 11,607.

The highest listed daily heating rate is 602 soums in Surkhandarya, compared with 103 soums in Andijan, a difference of approximately 5.8 times. Metered hot water ranges from 5,608 soums per cubic metre in Syrdarya to 26,270 soums in Nurabad, about 4.7 times as much.

Variation is also pronounced within regions. Navoi city's proposed heating rate is 141 soums per square metre per day, compared with 418 in Zarafshan and 455 in Uchkuduk. In Samarkand region, Nurabad's rate of 585 soums is more than twice Samarkand city's 279 soums.

These figures show differences between proposed prices, not the percentage increase for each supplier. The current regional rates needed to calculate every increase are not specified. For the listed Tashkent region suppliers, the proposed increases are described as approximately 30%.

Cost recovery by 2030 and annual adjustments from 2028

The explanatory note cites a presidential resolution dated 11 March 2025 that provides for household heating tariffs to move gradually towards the cost of supplying services by 2030. It also takes account of higher fuel and energy prices effective from 1 June 2026.

Cost recovery means bringing the amount charged for a service closer to the cost of producing and delivering it. The proposal combines that objective with efforts to reduce those costs. The intended endpoint therefore depends on both future tariff decisions and whether suppliers achieve the planned savings.

From 2028, household district heating tariffs would be adjusted once a year on 1 May, taking annual inflation into account but with an increase of no more than 10%. Proposals for those adjustments would come from the construction ministry and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Some descriptions put the start of the framework at 1 January 2028 while specifying 1 May as the annual adjustment date. The first scheduled annual increase is therefore described as 1 May 2028, rather than a separate increase in January. The 10% ceiling would apply to that later annual mechanism, not to the proposed November 2026 increase.

Tashkent's previous tariff increase took effect on 12 November 2025, following approval by Mayor Shavkat Umurzakov on 27 October at Veolia's request. Reports describe a 15% increase to 139,860 soums per gigacalorie, while the current comparison figure for the new draft is 156,643 soums including VAT. The two figures should not be treated as identical: adding 12% to 139,860 gives 156,643.2, which is consistent with a difference in tax presentation.

When revised consumption norms could lower tariffs

The draft would require Issiqlik Taminoti JSC, its constituent companies and organisations providing district heating through partnerships between the state and private operators to review heat load and consumption norms within two months. Updated figures would be submitted to the Karakalpakstan Council of Ministers and regional and Tashkent administrations for approval.

These norms are technical assumptions about how much heat buildings require or consume. If the review lowers a norm, the proposal requires the corresponding household heating tariffs across that territory to fall at the same time. If a norm rises, existing tariffs would remain unchanged until their next review and approval.

This is a separate potential route to lower charges, rather than a promise that the November prices will automatically decrease. Its effect would depend on the technical review and the approved replacement norms.

Who could receive the November payment

A separate draft presidential decree proposes a single payment of 1 million soums for eligible households during the 2026/2027 heating season. Additional local lists would be prepared by 1 November, with transfers to social or bank cards completed by 30 November 2026.

Recipients would include families in the Social Register and qualifying families outside it. For the latter group, eligibility would be assessed using administrative information and conclusions from the local mahalla's seven member community team. The general income ceiling would be twice minimum consumer expenditure per person, a benchmark used to assess basic consumption needs.

For families in apartment buildings connected to central heating, the proposed ceiling would be twice that benchmark in Karakalpakstan and the regions, and three times it in Tashkent. The higher Tashkent threshold is specific to this category, not a universal threshold for every compensation programme.

Support would also cover people recorded in the register of elderly people living alone and people with disabilities, alongside households with orphans or children without parental care. Priority in additional lists would go to families that have lost their breadwinner, those with members in disability groups I or II, families caring for a child with a disability and households with someone requiring prolonged treatment.

The additional list could contain no more than 50% of the number of Social Register households in the relevant district or city. An income threshold alone would therefore not determine the number added. The total number of recipients and total budget are not specified.

More electricity allowance and longer compensation

In areas without natural gas, or where supplying it is difficult, the winter basic electricity allowance would rise from 200 to 350 kilowatt hours. That is an extra 150 kilowatt hours, or a 75% increase. It would expand the consumption band covered by the basic allowance, not make electricity free.

Reports describe the proposed change as taking effect from 1 November 2026, with the Cabinet instructed to arrange it within a week. The final regulations would need to establish the applicable timetable and covered locations.

The income ceiling for electricity and natural gas compensation would rise from 1.5 to twice minimum consumer expenditure. Those compensation programmes would be extended through 1 April 2028. For coal assistance and aid through the Saxovat va Komak fund, the proposed income ceiling would rise from one to twice the benchmark; coal assistance would continue through 1 January 2029.

The support package also calls for proposals to continue energy improvements in homes of 3,000 families receiving state support in mahallas designated as facing difficult conditions. Work would include wall and roof insulation, efficient windows and doors, and solar panels or solar collectors.

Liquefied gas prices and compensation

A separate Cabinet draft proposes a household retail price for liquefied petroleum gas of 5,000 soums per kilogram from 1 November 2026, including VAT. The maximum delivery charge would be 1,300 soums per kilogram, also including VAT.

Eligible households would receive compensation of 3,000 soums per kilogram purchased, capped at 20 kilograms a month, through 1 January 2030. At that cap, monthly compensation would be 60,000 soums against a retail gas cost of 100,000 soums. The remaining gas cost would be 40,000 soums before delivery; delivery at the maximum rate would add 26,000 soums.

Compensation would be transferred to social cards after purchases are verified. Eligibility would include Social Register families, qualifying families outside the register with income no higher than twice minimum consumer expenditure per person, and families with orphans or children without parental care.

Delivery would be provided by LPG Trade LLC, established under Presidential Resolution No. PP 326 of 12 September 2026 with Hududgaztaminot JSC participating. Budget subsidies would cover justified supply costs at regulated prices. The economy and energy ministries would prepare proposals on liberalising regulated liquefied gas prices by 1 May 2027.

Separate families sharing one house could exceptionally receive separate cylinders, provided each has its own kitchen and gas stove and obtains confirmation from the mahalla team and gas supply workers.

Efficiency commitments and the decision timetable

Within a month, the responsible ministries, National Energy Efficiency Agency and heating companies would prepare a programme targeting a reduction in thermal energy costs of up to 15%. That is a proposed savings target, not an achieved reduction.

Issiqlik Taminoti would also increase independent membership of its supervisory board to 75% within a month. By the end of 2026, it would recruit foreign specialists as deputy chair for finance and technical adviser to the chair, and bring its heating enterprises onto modern billing software.

The longer schedule includes several deadlines:

• 28 October 2026: public consultation closes.
• 1 November 2026: proposed start of new household heating, hot water and liquefied gas prices; deadline for additional aid lists.
• 30 November 2026: proposed completion of the 1 million soum payments.
• 1 April 2027: introduce management performance targets and move to international financial reporting standards, beginning with 2026 accounts.
• 1 May 2027: prepare the heating development strategy through 2030 with international consultants.
• End of 2027: complete the technical audit and target a 25% reduction in heating network losses during the year.
• 1 May 2028: first proposed annual inflation adjustment, capped at 10%.

The audit would lead to a modernisation and reconstruction programme for Cabinet approval. Audited facilities would also be considered for inclusion in social and production infrastructure development programmes.

Final adoption remains the decisive step. Household prices are specified in the draft, while the Interdepartmental Tariff Commission under the Cabinet would approve tariffs for legal entities within three days of adoption. No confirmed adoption date or final business tariffs are given.

Key Points

• New heating and hot water tariffs are proposed for 1 November 2026, subject to adoption after consultation ends on 28 October.
• Tashkent heating would rise to 314 soums per square metre per day, approximately 30% above the current rate.
• Tashkent's proposed unmetered hot water charge would fall against the current charge including the 1.5 multiplier.
• Eligible households could receive 1 million soums by 30 November, alongside broader utility compensation.
• The winter basic electricity allowance in specified areas would increase from 200 to 350 kilowatt hours.
• Annual heating tariff adjustments from May 2028 would reflect inflation and be capped at 10%.
• Cost savings, network loss reductions and technical audits are proposed commitments, not completed results.