The key facts

  • Competition Committee: nearly 800,000 citizens received debt recalculation of ~22 billion soums
  • Also identified about 100 citizens who did not live in houses without drinking water meters
  • The Committee proposed integrating billing with migration databases and monthly recalculation for those who went abroad

Debt recalculation following the audit

Uzbekistan's Competition Committee reported that, as a result of studying the situation with utility payments, nearly 800,000 citizens had about 22 billion soums of unjustified debt recalculated. This concerns people who temporarily lived elsewhere or were abroad, but were charged payments for certain utility services at their permanent residence address. According to the Committee, information on some subscribers did not correspond to their actual status, and data on new subscribers had not been entered into the system.

What the audit revealed

The Committee, together with relevant organizations, studied cases across the entire republic where citizens were charged payments for certain utility services at their permanent residence during periods when they temporarily lived elsewhere or were abroad. Discrepancies were identified in the data on citizens temporarily residing, working, seeking employment, or studying abroad. In particular, about 800,000 people were identified who were not provided with household waste removal services during the relevant period, as well as about 100 citizens who did not live in houses not equipped with drinking water meters. As a result, the rights of nearly 800,000 citizens were restored, and unjustified debt amounting to about 22 billion soums was recalculated in their favor.

Recalculation procedure and the Committee's proposals

According to current regulatory documents, if a change in the number of subscribers is confirmed by documents, the debt is recalculated from the date of the change in the number of persons. If there are no supporting documents, the recalculation is made for the past three months. To protect consumer rights in the utility services sector, the Committee proposed integrating billing systems with migration databases, as well as submitting proposals to relevant agencies and organizations to introduce a monthly recalculation for subscribers who are abroad for more than a month and for persons living with them — until their return to Uzbekistan.

Previous audits

Earlier, the Competition Committee had already opened a case against territorial electric grid enterprises over facts of unjustified collection of payments from entrepreneurs amounting to 5.5 billion soums.