Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- From 1 November, restrictions on the use of natural gas began to apply to business entities, including catering establishments (restaurants, cafes), the Dunyo news agency reported citing an official statement from the Ministry of Energy Uzbekistan.

This is due to the priority in supplying natural gas to the population and social facilities. According to the press service of the department, gas supply companies are modernizing their infrastructure to increase the capacity, which is currently not adapted for the uniform distribution of natural gas during the period of its intensive consumption. In this regard, special measures are being temporarily taken to ensure uninterrupted supplies of natural gas to residential facilities, schools, preschool institutions, and hospitals.

These measures were stipulated in contracts with business entities. They are also expected to have alternative fuel sources. In particular, in Uzbekistan over the past years, a program has been in place for their gradual transition to alternative fuels (liquefied gas, coal, and others). In the near future, the use of alternative fuels will be provided not only in the autumn-winter period.

According to the aforementioned program, legal consumers who are not socially significant objects, on the eve of the beginning of the autumn-winter period 2020-2021, received appropriate notifications. Thus, all enterprises connected to the capital’s high-pressure gas pipelines received a notification of their transfer to the "industrial collector" at the beginning of this year.

Thus, those wholesale consumers who are not guaranteed the supply of natural gas in the autumn-winter period, including public catering enterprises, should take active measures to switch to using alternative fuels.