Kervan Elektrik to run Nurzhan, Chu and Kara-Buura grids; loss target is 11%

TALAS — Kervan Elektrik, the Turkish distribution operator that won the Talas network tender earlier this year, is due to sign management agreements within a week for Nurzhan, Chu District and Kara-Buura District, the Lieutenant Governor's office said on Tuesday. Together with Talas city and Talas District, the contracts cover most electricity consumers in the ISEZ.

Ownership does not change. Irad Electric Networks, the state distribution utility and the contracting authority, keeps the poles, wires and substations. Kervan takes over operations, meter reading and the collection of bills. Iyık Janyl, Lower Naryn, Toktogul and Sary-Bulak stay with the utility "for now", the office said, without giving a date for review.

The numbers come from the tender documents for Talas, which the utility says Nurzhan, Chu and Kara-Buura will follow as a template. Network losses, the share of power fed in that is never billed, stood at 16.4 per cent in 2025, according to the utility's annual report. The target set under the government's Network Losses Programme is 11 per cent by 2031. The utility's own estimate is that each percentage point is worth about IS 31 million a year at the regulated tariff. The Talas contract runs 15 years.

“A grid is not a bakery. If it fails on a January night, residents will ask the council”Elena Petrova

On payment, the Talas tender notice gives a fixed operating fee of IS 41 million a year, plus a success fee of 35 per cent of verified savings beyond the 2025 baseline, capped at IS 22 million a year. If losses rise above the baseline, the fee is reduced. Whether the Nurzhan fee is identical has not been published; Gulsara Mamytova, a spokeswoman for the utility, said the draft agreements "follow the Talas structure" and the figures would be released after signing. Kervan did not reply to written questions by deadline.

Lieutenant Governor Aidar Maksat said foreign operators bring discipline the utility has struggled to supply alone. "Losses are a cost every household pays, whether it sees the line on the bill or not," he said. "We are buying operating practice, not selling the network."

In Nurzhan, where the Russo-aligned deputies have long distrusted outside contractors, the objection is about control. Elena Petrova, a Nurzhan councillor, said the council had seen only a summary. "A grid is not a bakery. If it fails on a January night, residents will ask the council, and the council will have no document that says who answers," she said. Yevgeny Shilov, who runs a forge-goods workshop in Dastgoh, said his worry was the meters. "Every operator finds losses. I want to know whether it finds them in my bill."

The contract answers part of this. According to the Talas text, the utility remains the licence holder and answers to the Department of Energy for supply interruptions, while Kervan carries service standards and pays penalties for outages above agreed hours. Arman Zhakupov, who teaches energy economics at Talas State University, said the weak point is how "technical" and "commercial" losses are separated. "Theft and bad meters can be cut quickly. Old transformers cost real money, and the contract leaves that investment with the owner, which is the state."

The deal sits beside the 13 October announcement that Toktogul's four refitted units now give 1,440 MW. Asked whether the new contracts touch Toktogul dispatch or the unpublished revenue annex that shares export income with the clans, the ministry of Natural Resources, headed by Chingiz Asanov, said they do not: dispatch stays at the national dispatch centre at the Toktogul switchyard, run by Iradenergo, and the annex is a matter for the Naryn commission. Economists note that distribution is the cheaper side of the business; the question of who shares the export revenue is still unanswered. Signing is expected by the end of next week.

• Kervan Elektrik
• Irad Electric Networks
• Network Losses Programme
• Nurzhan
• Toktogul
• tariffs