Bektenov orders faster digitalization of Kazakhstan's utilities sector

Kazakhstan's prime minister Olzhas Bektenov has ordered faster digitalization of the utilities sector — one of the country's most conservative industries. It covers resource metering, accident control and moving consumer interactions into digital channels: where paper acts and meter readers walk their rounds today, real-time data must appear.

Utilities are a telling frontier of digitalization: if data and algorithms reach the pipes and boiler houses, the argument "our industry is special, this won't work for us" weakens everywhere else. For power and water companies it means shifting from reacting to accidents to preventing them; city residents will in time get comprehensible bills instead of mysterious recalculations.

For business two sides matter. As a consumer: transparent metering means predictable utility costs — for manufacturing and food service a noticeable expense line that can finally be planned. As a contractor: a digitalization wave across an entire industry means years of orders for sensors, integrations, analytics and AI deployment — Kazakhstani IT teams should start watching akimat and monopoly tenders now.