President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed the decree appointing Sherzod Khodjayev as the Minister of Energy, replacing Zhurabek Mirzamakhmudov, presidential spokesman Sherzod Asadov announced today.
Sherzod Khodjayev, who had previously (since 2024) served as director of the Energy Market Development and Regulation Agency. His nomination was approved by the MPs of the Legislative Chamber.
Zhurabek Mirzamakhmudov had headed the Ministry of Energy for nearly four years, since September 2022. Before that, he led the Uzatom agency and Uzkimyosanoat. In 2019–2020, he also served as first deputy minister of energy and director general of Uzatom.
In recent months, Mirzamakhmudov's public visibility had noticeably declined. He appeared less and less frequently in photos from government meetings the president held on energy issues. In particular, he was absent from photos of the July 6 and July 17 meetings on preparing the oil and gas sector for the upcoming autumn-winter season.
His tenure saw growth in electricity production — turning the country into a net electricity exporter — as well as the start of gas imports from Russia (making Uzbekistan a net gas importer), a sweeping overhaul of electricity and gas tariffs, and the launch of major solar and wind energy projects. In addition, construction began in Uzbekistan on the country's first nuclear power plant, in cooperation with Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom.
One of the public's chief grievances with the Ministry of Energy remains power outages during the winter and summer months, along with gas shortages in cold weather.
Sherzod Khodjayev has worked in the energy sector since 1998. From 2019 to 2023, he served as deputy minister of energy. In January 2023, amid an energy crisis, the president dismissed then-Tashkent mayor Jahongir Artykhodjayev, Thermal Power Stations chief Farkhod Abdurakhmanov, and other officials; Khodjayev's dismissal was reported at the same time. In February of that year, he was appointed head of the Project Office for Reforming the Electric Power Industry within the Ministry of Energy.
