Measures to prepare for the upcoming heating season were considered at the Government session, chaired by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.

Minister of Energy Almassadam Satkaliyev reported that today completed technical audit of power plants in the country, which was carried out with the involvement of international consultants. As a result, a rating was formed on the indicators of wear, operating time of the main equipment, fuel consumption, technological violations, etc. At present plans for further actions are being prepared. At the same time for all 37 CHPPs together with the akimats roadmaps are being formed to prepare for the upcoming heating season, which will be under the control of the Ministry of Energy.

In total, this year it is planned to repair 10 power units, 49 boilers and 54 turbines at the power plants. At different stages of the work are already underway on one power unit, two boilers and three turbines. As for the electric networks, the repair of 25 thousand kilometers of power lines and 564 high-voltage substations is planned. Repair of electric networks will begin in May.

According to Minister of Industry and Infrastructural Development Marat Karabayev, the total length of heating networks in the country is about 14,000 km. The average wear and tear across the country reaches 54% and 7.5 thousand km are to be replaced. The highest level of wear and tear is noted in the Abay, East Kazakhstan, Karaganda, Pavlodar and North Kazakhstan regions.

In 2023 69.4 bln tenge will be allocated from the budget to implement 47 projects on communications with wear index over 75%. These funds will be used to reconstruct about 107 km of heating networks. In general, by 2029 the task is to reduce the depreciation of heating pipelines to 43%.

In addition, the question of allocation of funds from the reserve of the Government for the reconstruction and modernization of heating networks in Akmola and Pavlodar regions is being studied. So, on March 15 a positive conclusion on the reconstruction of 4 heating mains (TM-2, TM-5, TM-8, TM-12) in Ekibastuz, and the construction of new heating networks in Pavlodar. Also, at the request of the Akimat of Akmola region, the issue of repair of heating mains in the cities of Stepnogorsk and Kokshetau is being studied.

With the report on checks of industrial enterprises, which provide heat and electricity for their own needs as well as social infrastructure facilities, the Minister of Emergency Yuri Ilyin. Akim of Pavlodar region Assain Baikhanov, Kostanay region Kumar Aksakalov, East Kazakhstan region Danial Akhmetov and Akmola region Yermek Marzhikpayev told about plans for work in the regions.

Prime Minister stressed that the past winter period exposed a lot of accumulated problems in the heating industry. In particular, the situation was difficult in Ekibastuz, Rudny and Ridder, where it was necessary to solve pressing issues in manual mode.

"All akimats should draw conclusions and carry out quality work to prevent similar situations," Alikhan Smailov said.

According to him, during the last heating season the number of accidents significantly increased increased too because even in large cities the average temperature of heat supply decreased due to the lack of heat energy. Other infrastructural costs associated with the wear and tear of the main equipment were also revealed.

"All this led to justified criticism from the population. At the same time in some regions there were problems with the timely delivery of coal. This is a systematic annual work, where there should be no failures and omissions," Prime Minister stressed.

In general, as Alikhan Smailov noted, previously there had been no comprehensive objective assessment of the technical condition of the equipment. In addition, the responsibility of the management and owners of thermal power plants remains extremely low.

"The prescriptions of the authorized state body are only advisory in nature and do not oblige the owners to implement them in full. And there are many such systemic problems accumulated. The main one is wear and tear of heat networks," he said.

In this regard, this year the Government will strengthen legislatively the activities of energy supervision, which will have the right to conduct unscheduled inspections. The state will also receive a legal right to withdraw energy facilities from ownership in case of their improper maintenance, if it poses a threat to life support systems.

"The Government, akimats and owners will prioritize the financing of relevant repair and reconstruction projects of energy infrastructure. On the basis of applications from regions, a pool of 47 projects to replace heating networks to the amount of 69 billion tenge has been formed. It is important to carry out this work qualitatively and timely," Alikhan Smailov said.

In this case he pointed out that 2 thousand km of heating networks with deterioration of about 77% are in private ownership. In this regard, there is a need to tighten control over their condition and the mandatory implementation of repairs.

"It is necessary to increase the responsibility of owners of energy facilities, to provide this in contracts for the provision of services. Implementation should not be recommendatory, but strictly binding," Prime Minister pointed out.

He added that the question of reconstruction of private thermal networks by budgetary credit should be worked out as well. The return of funds in this case will be carried out within the "Tariff in exchange for investments".

Summing up, the Head of Government instructed the Akims of the regions together with the Ministry of Industry and Energy to approve the action plan for the preparation of all housing and public utilities, housing and social sphere facilities for the coming heating season 2023-2024 and to immediately proceed to its implementation.

At the same time, Alikhan Smailov pointed out the need to complete a technical survey of the existing heating networks by June 1 and determine the expediency of transferring private networks in an emergency condition to the municipal ownership.

"All arising questions should be solved operatively, not to delay before the beginning of a heating season. Everything must be taken into account to the smallest detail, all the risks must be calculated," Prime Minister concluded.