Having an energy ministry in Russia would be expedient due to the complexity and magnitude of the energy industry, believes RAO UES Management Board Member Yuri Udaltsov, one of the ideologists and developers of the Russian power industry's reform. "With energy being such a vast and complex industry it seems to me that it is expedient for the country to have a separate energy ministry", Udaltsov said, Energopolis magazine reported. At the same time, he noted the complexity of this issue. "If this is a ministry of industry and energy, everything will circle around one of the deputy ministers in charge of the energy industry and then be brought up to the ministerial level. There are pros and cos in both approaches", notes the energy holding company's board member. According to Udaltsov, the administration of the ministry "would comprise two state-owned companies - the System Operator and the Federal Grid Company". It has been discussed earlier that development and coordination of the energy market in the Russian Federation upon completion of Russia's power industry reform and dissolution of RAO UES of Russia by 1 July, 2008 will be partly assigned to non-profit partnership Market Council. According to Udaltsov, the Market Council will play a "consolidating role from the point of view of (power) buyers and suppliers and contribute to demand forecasting ". "We have now gathered regional consumption data, but it is clear that both energy producers and authorities in the regions are quite vague about their future consumption. Only if there is some major project do they know some approximate figures because they have been approached with respect to site allocation, infrastructure, etc. As for the Market Council, it would probably be able to have a better notion of the price elasticity of demand, to issue market players' requests or demands for infrastructural improvements not only from the point of view of reliability, but also of creating a competitive environment in which the market could function normally", said Udaltsov. He believes that an energy ministry should focus on emerging requests or demands of the energy community, while the Market Council should concentrate on the market players' points of view and consequently on economic and efficiency matters. |
