On Changing Time Zones in Kazakhstan
Translated from Russian with the help of AI. Original: Russian version
Looking at Kazakhstan's switch to a single time zone from an economic perspective, the author argues that the country should reintroduce daylight saving and standard time as a compromise, since the current arrangement wastes electricity in summer.
The change of time and the introduction of a single time zone in Kazakhstan are being actively discussed online. It is hard to make out the logic behind the decision. Perhaps the idea was to follow China's example, which has a single time zone, but then it was decided that we should be closer to the West, and so the chosen time zone is one closer to Western time. I do not want to dwell on biological rhythms and the like, or on where London and Almaty sit relative to each other. I would rather approach the question from an economic point of view. Kazakhstan ranks ninth in the world by territory, and we cannot ignore that. We span three time zones, and we cannot ignore that fact either. From an economic standpoint, daylight should coincide with the period of greatest activity. If in summer the sun rises at 4 a.m. and sets at 6 p.m., then clearly we are overpaying for an hour of electricity, which is absolutely illogical. In winter, under the current arrangement, the sun rises at 7 a.m. and sets at 5 p.m., whereas under the old system it rose at 8 a.m. and set at 6 p.m. Economically, the difference is small, and it affects only part of Kazakhstan. Europe and the US switch between summer and winter time, and now that they have moved to winter time, the gap between us and them has returned to what it was under the old time standard.
In other words, if we are looking for an arrangement that would not discredit the leadership's decisions, the most logical step is to reintroduce summer and winter time, so that in summer we live on the old time and in winter on the new. This is a compromise that is likely to be acceptable. Of course, the most logical option would be to return to the previous arrangement, with two time zones and the clocks set back as they were. But I think that is unlikely in the near future.