Every third Sunday of December, Kazakhstan celebrates Power Engineer's Day – is a professional holiday for people whose work is associated with such an important task in the life of ordinary citizens and the state as a whole as providing heat, light and a power source for devices, equipment, machine tools, etc., that is, with electrical and thermal energy.
The tradition of celebrating this day dates back to Soviet times, when it was established as a professional holiday in 1966 in memory of the country's electrification program known as GOELRO. The electrification plan of the Soviet Union was adopted on December 22, 1920 and is one of the large-scale projects implemented in the USSR in the 20-30s of the 20th century. In 1966, in memory of the date of the decision to implement the GOELRO plan, the date of celebration of Power Engineer's Day was December 22.
In 1980, a new date for celebrating Power Engineer's Day – every third Sunday in December was established and then confirmed in 1988 by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, each newly formed independent state determined its own date for Energy Engineer Day (in Russia – is December 22). Kazakhstan retained the third Sunday of December as the date of this professional holiday. In the legislative system of the Republic, Energy Worker's Day received its official status in 1998.
The reliability of the energy network, created back in the Soviet period, has become a good basic basis for the energy sector of Kazakhstan. However, time passed, and measures were taken and funds were allocated for the modernization of energy equipment, networks and substations, thermal power plants, thermal power plants, hydroelectric power plants, new technologies were introduced for accounting for the consumption of electricity and heat energy, its rational use and conservation.
Light and heat are brought to homes, offices, hospitals and clinics, schools and kindergartens, and enterprises by the labor of people belonging to the energy industry. Every year on the eve of the holiday, events dedicated to Energy Engineer's Day are held in Kazakhstan. These are festive concerts and sports competitions between teams of energy companies. At the festive events, awards, valuable prizes, awards are presented to industry veterans, as well as employees for exemplary performance of labor functions. The state tries to financially support workers in the energy industry, provide support to the families of workers, and also strives to improve working conditions at enterprises.