Power, Hot-Water and Gas Cuts in Uzbekistan: When and Why
Why Uzbekistan's power, hot water and gas fail by season: summer peak cuts, spring maintenance, winter gas pressure, plus 104, 112 and carbon monoxide.
On 16 July 2026 Uzbekistan used 291 million kWh of electricity in a single day, 6.7% above the previous summer record, according to the Ministry of Energy as reported by Kun.uz. By 17 July the ministry was switching off sections of the grid, two hours at a time, in districts of Kashkadarya, Jizzakh, Khorezm and Tashkent region. That's the summer half of a pattern that repeats every year. The winter half is about gas.
This guide won't give you a schedule, because there isn't a reliable public one. Planned work is announced district by district, and the detailed street lists usually come in Uzbek or Russian. What you can learn is the shape of the year.
The yearly pattern at a glance
Each season stresses a different part of the system. Every example below comes from an official statement or national news report and is dated (last checked: October 2026).
| Season | What tends to fail | Dated example |
|---|---|---|
| Winter (roughly Nov–Mar) | Gas pressure, bottled gas supply, cold flats before central heating starts | 2025: gas overtook electricity as the top energy complaint (45% vs 41% of appeals) |
| Spring (Apr–May) | Hot water, during planned maintenance | 27 Apr–1 May 2026: five-day hot-water stop across several Tashkent districts |
| Early summer (Jun) | Substations and transformers in cities | 28 Jun 2026: Yuksak substation failure, 55,000 consumers without power |
| Peak summer (Jul–Aug) | Overloaded lines; deliberate rolling cuts | 17 Jul 2026: two-hour restrictions in parts of four regions |
Summer: heat, air conditioners and rolling cuts
The July 2026 cuts weren't a breakdown. They were a choice. The ministry said overhead lines and equipment were overheating well past normal levels while air conditioners and fridges ran all day, so dispatchers disconnected individual sections before something bigger failed. A major accident, it said, could take several days to repair. Daily generation also set a record, at 295.4 million kWh.
The numbers affected were specific. Kun.uz listed 1,750 consumers across Kukdala and Chiroqchi (Kashkadarya), 1,200 in Sharof Rashidov and Zaamin (Jizzakh), 1,300 in Shavat, Gurlan and Qoshkopir (Khorezm), and 1,000 in the Tashkent and Zangiota districts of the surrounding Tashkent region. Note that "Tashkent district" there means the rural district outside the capital, not the city itself. For a traveller, Gurlan and Shavat matter most, since both are in Khorezm, the region that holds Khiva and Urgench.
Cities get a different kind of summer cut: the unplanned one. Gazeta.uz reported that in early June 2026 a transformer fault at the Tashkent Thermal Power Plant knocked out power in several districts of the capital, and the knock-on effects are the useful part for visitors. Traffic lights stopped, households had water supply disruptions, and parts of the metro were affected. Then, on the evening of 28 June, the Yuksak substation in Yakkasaray district failed and cut power to 55,000 consumers in Yakkasaray, Chilanzar, Mirabad and Uchtepa districts and in neighbouring Zangiata. The ministry set up a special commission for Tashkent in early July.
How bad did it get overall? At a meeting the presidential website reported on 27 July 2026, the President said about 4,000 accidents had occurred in electricity networks during June and July, and that some households and businesses had been without power for up to 8–10 hours. The energy minister was dismissed at that meeting. Our take: a two-hour planned cut is an annoyance; the long ones are the unplanned failures, and they cluster in the hottest weeks. If you're weighing a July trip anyway, our page on travelling through the Uzbek heat covers the temperatures behind all this.
Why the grid is fragile
Money isn't the stated problem. At the July meeting, the President said 30 trillion som had gone into modernising electricity and gas networks, substations and transformers, and that the issue was management, not funding. The figure that explains the summer strain is losses. Electricity losses in the networks stood at 17.2% in the first half of 2026, or 4.8 billion kWh, Kun.uz reported from a 21 July government meeting; natural gas network losses were 7.6%.
Age is the other half. Kun.uz, citing the World Bank, reported that over half of Uzbekistan's distribution network is more than 30 years old, a factor behind overloads and outages. At an earlier meeting in April, officials reported losses above 20% in 44 districts. None of this is a reason to cancel a trip. It's a reason to expect that a hot week in a provincial town may include an evening of candles.
Spring: planned hot-water shutdowns in Tashkent
Many Tashkent apartment blocks get hot water and radiator heat from district boiler houses and the city's thermal power plant, not from a boiler in each flat. When those plants go down for maintenance, whole zones lose hot water at once. From 27 April to 1 May 2026, Kun.uz reported, hot water was suspended in zones served by Boiler House No. 7 and the Tashkent Thermal Power Plant, mainly in Yashnobod, Yakkasaray, Mirobod, Chilonzor and Shaykhantakhur, plus parts of Sergeli. Affected streets included Shota Rustaveli, Oybek and Amir Temur.
Who does this hit? Mostly people renting apartments in older blocks for a week or more. Whether a hotel is on the city supply or heats its own water varies, so if your dates fall in late April or May, it's a fair question to ask before you book. If you're picking a base, our notes on choosing a Tashkent neighbourhood explain which districts are which, and the district names above are the ones to watch in announcements.
Winter: central heating dates and gas pressure
When the radiators come on
Central heating in Tashkent doesn't start on a fixed date. Under a 2014 Cabinet of Ministers resolution, the season begins once the average daily temperature stays below 8°C for five days in a row, and the city hokimiyat then announces the dates, Kun.uz explained in October 2024. Social facilities go first, homes a couple of days later. Recent starts show the spread: social buildings from 22 October and homes from 24 October in 2022; social buildings from 3 November and homes from 5 November in 2025, according to the city hokimiyat statement quoted by Spot.uz. So a late-October visitor can land in a flat with cold radiators. The 2025 announcement gave 1055 as the city line for heating faults.
Gas pressure and bottled gas
Gas, not electricity, is now the bigger complaint. The Ministry of Energy received more than 108,300 appeals in 2025, Kun.uz reported, and 45% concerned natural or liquefied gas against 41% for electricity. Low gas pressure in distribution networks accounted for 5,101 of them. Problems with refilling gas cylinders were the biggest single gas complaint, at 19,630. That matters because, by the President's figures in July 2026, 3.7 million households use liquefied gas, and 1,916 mahallas were having difficulties with natural gas supply ahead of this winter.
For a traveller this shows up in family guesthouses and rural homestays, where heat may come from a gas stove, a gas heater or a coal stove rather than radiators. Low pressure means a weak flame and a cold room. Our existing cold-season guide already suggests asking how the room is heated when you book; we'd add a second question, below.
Carbon monoxide: the real safety issue
Darkness is an inconvenience. Carbon monoxide kills. In March 2026 the Prosecutor General's Office reported that three members of one family, spanning three generations, died of acute carbon monoxide poisoning in Urtachirchik district of Tashkent region, where the eldest had been living in an apartment; a pre-trial investigation was opened, and the published report didn't state the source. When heating was late in 2024, Kun.uz reported that the authorities advised residents against gas-powered heating because of the poisoning risk. We'd treat any unflued gas heater or badly vented stove in a closed room as the main hazard of a winter trip.
Practical steps, in order of importance:
- Don't sleep in a closed room with a gas heater or stove burning unless it has a proper flue. Ask your host to turn it off at night and use extra blankets instead.
- Headache, dizziness or nausea in a heated room is a reason to get outside first and think second.
- A small battery carbon monoxide alarm weighs little and is a sensible item to pack for winter homestays (our recommendation, not a local rule).
- Smell gas? Leave, don't switch lights on or off, and call 104.
Who is this section NOT for? If you're staying only in large city hotels with central heating, the risk is low. It's aimed at homestay travellers in the Fergana Valley, the mountains and the villages, the trips described in our homestay guide.
Numbers to save and a simple kit
The tour operator CAJ.UZ publishes an emergency list it says was checked against official sources (updated 15 May 2026): 112 unified emergency number, 104 emergency gas service, 1104 Hududgazta'minot gas supply line, 101 fire, 103 ambulance, 102 police, and 1173 Safe Tourism call centre. You can read the full emergency numbers page and save it offline. If you don't speak Uzbek or Russian, the same page suggests saying you are a tourist and asking for English. In danger, call 112 first; 1173 is the line set up for tourists, and our scams guide explains what it does.
Beyond that, a short list covers most cuts:
- A charged power bank. A two-hour cut is nothing if your phone is full.
- Offline maps and mobile data. A home Wi-Fi router dies with the power. A local SIM with data, covered in our guide to Uzbek SIM cards, is the better bet, and downloaded maps work with no signal at all.
- A torch. Stairwells in apartment blocks go pitch black.
- Bottled water. The early-June 2026 Tashkent outage also disrupted household water supply.
- Ask your host. Notices come from the hokimiyat press service in Uzbek or Russian, so a local will usually hear about planned work before you do.
Where do official notices appear? Planned work is announced by city and regional hokimiyats and by the Ministry of Energy, and national outlets such as Kun.uz's English service pick up the bigger ones. The full July 2026 statement on losses and accidents is on the presidential website.
Our take
In spring or autumn, you probably won't notice any of this. In the hottest weeks of summer, expect the odd planned cut outside the big cities and the occasional unplanned one inside them; neither should change your route. In winter, the inconvenience is a chilly room, and the one thing worth real attention is a gas heater in a closed bedroom. Pack a power bank, save 104 and 112, and ask how the room is heated. That's genuinely most of it.