The discovery of oil in the IshimbAy region also laid the foundation for its energy industry, as electricity was needed for oil refinement and for sustaining the lives of oil workers. During the early years of these oil fields, electricity was generated by small and extremely inefficient power stations and tiny factory boiler rooms that were fueled by crude oil, gas, fuel oil, and firewood. In 1932, a temporary power plant with a capacity of 13 kilowatts was launched on the right bank of the Belaya River to meet the needs of oil exploration. Later, another temporary power plant, this time with a capacity of 700 kilowatts, was put in operation on the left bank of the Belaya River.

The construction of the Ishimbay Central Power Plant began in 1934. Equipment for the plant was brought on barges along the BElaya River, as well as hauled by horses and camels from the Raevka railroad station. It should be noted that the Soviet Union was actively introducing new equipment both in drilling and in oil production around that time. For instance, the obsolete steam engines that had previously been used for drilling oil wells were getting replaced with electric motors. However, electric boilers required a more powerful source of energy before they could completely supplant the more conservative steam-powered units. The new power plant became such an energy source.

The first phase of the Ishimbay Central Power Plant with a capacity of 5,000 kilowatts was put in operation on July 14, 1936, the same day it gave its first current. Ishimbaevo began to receive electrical energy that powered its drilling operations, mechanical workshops, and artificial oil lift. This facility became the second power plant in BashkIria, supplying electricity not only to the oil fields of Ishimbaevo but also to industrial enterprises of the large city of SterlitamAk. The primary equipment of the newly built Central Power Plant included a boiler produced at the Nevsky Machine-Building Plant, 2 boilers from the ‘Finzer & Hanzer’ company, a 3,000-kilowatt OK-30 turbine generator from the Electrosila plant, and a 2,000-kilowatt turbine generator from the Westinghouse company. The Central Power Plant ran on fuel oil.

The first directors to head the power plant were Yu. Yu. Yakubovsky (until October 1939), M. I. Naberezhnov (until May 1940), G. S. Kadyrgulov (until February 1941), and L. M. Shtitelman (until September 1942). The first chief engineers of the Central Power Plant were N. A. Ivanov (until March 1939) and A. A. Kholin (until July 1942).

The construction was headed by engineers V. V. Gorsky and B. N. Lermontov.