Industry News

Unified Energy System (UES) CEO Anatoly Chubais has confirmed that talks took place with German power company E.ON on investing in Russian energy, including in Moscow region.

Unified Energy System (UES) expects by the end of 2005 to identify the generating companies that are ready to draw private investment by issuing additional shares, UES executive Yury Udaltsov said at a conference in Moscow.

German multi-utility E.ON AG is in talks with Russian gas supplier Gazprom, power supply monopoly RAO UES and the city of Moscow in order to enter the Russian electricity market, according to ITAR-TASS report, citing E.ON's CEO, Wulf Bernotat.

The Russian Auditing Chamber has completed an audit at RAO UES of Russia, auditor Mikhail Beskhmelnitsin has told RBC. As reported earlier, the results of the audit, which reviewed the situation surrounding the federal wholesale electricity market and regional energy systems among other issues, are to be weighed before the end of 2005. However, the auditor said that the audit resulted in a large volume of information that has to be dealt with first. Therefore, he admitted that the Auditing Chamber could postpone consideration of the results until early 2006.

The Government of the Russian Federation assigned the Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Energy and Industry, Ministry of Finance, Federal Tariff Service and Federal Antimonopoly Service to develop in the 1st quarter of 2006 agreed policy and rationale for projects on the split-off of generation assets from RAO UES of Russia to provide conditions for the promotion of investments into the power sector.

A special regulatory agency should be established to be assigned RAO UES of Russia's control functions for the period of the power industry reform. This opinion was voiced recently by Russia's Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref at a meeting of the government. He reminded that reorganisation of RAO UES would lead to a number of its control functions transferred to relevant departments (including the Federal Tariff Service and the Federal Antimonopoly Service) and infrastructure organisations. Mr Gref believes it inadvisable to allocate these functions between several agencies. He thinks it better to transfer them to one structure.

OJSC Irkutskenergo (RТS: IRGZ) and the Administration of Irkutsk intend to set up OJSC Irkutsk Heat Supply Company (Irteplokom) on a par basis, reports the press service of the city’s administration.

Anatoly Chubais, CEO of RAO UES of Russia advocates benefits for public electric power consumption at a limited tariff.

RAO UES of Russia will announce by April, 2006 the generation companies which will be unbundled first and will issue IPO in 2006. As Chairman of the Management Board of RAO UEA Anatoly Chubais said at a teleconference. “We haven’t got any final decision yet, especially as we have received a political decision just today” – he said.

The Russian government could instruct the Economic Development and Trade Ministry and the Industry & Energy Ministry to make it possible to split off several generating companies from Unified Energy System (UES) in 2006-2007.