The cost of success: business estimated the merger of energy zones in the Russian Federation at billions of rubles

Sergei Kondratiev, Deputy Head of the Economic Department commented to the electronic publishing Izvestia on the unification of different energy zones in Russia.

The approval of the uniform network tariffs will lead to expansion of cross-subsidization, Sergey Kondratiev, Deputy Head of the Economic Department of the Institute for Energy and Finance stressed.

- This trend began back in 2017, when the government supported the reduction of tariffs for consumers in the Far East by increasing electricity prices in the European part of the country and in Siberia. Now, over 50 billion rubles are annually allocated for these purposes. At first glance, this decision is fair and allows to create equal conditions for business in different regions of the country, but the principles of such unification are not clear, the expert said.

According to the analyst, Tuva, which is planned to be merged with the Irkutsk region, does not even have common electricity networks with it. The experience of the Far East shows that decline in electricity prices does not have a significant impact on investment, he concluded.