The Energy Regulation and Markets Review - Stikeman Elliott

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Regulated activities
Russia
As a branch of the Russian economy, the electric power sector includes: 21
a production of electric power;
b transmission of electric power;
c operational dispatch management in the electric power sector;
d sale of electric power; and
e consumption of electric power.
Russia’s electric power complex consists of about 600 electric power plants, as follows:
a thermal power plants – 68.4 per cent (70 per cent working on gas, 26 per cent on
coal, and 3 per cent on fuel oil 22 );
b hydropower plants – 20.3 per cent; and
c nuclear power plants – 11.1 per cent. 23
The electric power wholesale market companies include eight open joint-stock companies
organised on a non-territorial basis (of these, six combine virtually all the major thermal
power plants, one, almost all hydro-power plants and one all the nuclear power plants),
and 14 open joint-stock companies set up on a territorial basis with electric power plants
on a smaller scale. Generation of electric power does not generally require a licence or
any other such state permit, except for nuclear power, which requires a permit (licence). 24
Electric power transmission services are provided by the organisation for
management of the unified Russian electricity grid (Open Joint-stock Company Unified
Power Grid, in which Russia holds a more than 75 per cent stake, which transmits
electric power through the major grids) and by the interregional grid distribution
companies belonging to this grid and other owners of electricity grid facilities. 25 The
given entities are developing the unified grid and are responsible for building its facilities.
Any other entities may also build electricity transmission lines in accordance with the
town planning legislation of Russia and have the right to their technological connection.
Operational dispatch management in Russia’s electric power sector is performed
by an operator organisation (Open Joint-Stock Company Unified Power Grid Systems
Operator, in which the state holds a 100 per cent stake).
21 Article 3 of the Federal Law on Electric Power.
22 Russia–EU Energy Dialogue. Road map for cooperation between Russia and the EU in the
energy sphere up to 2050. Interim report, July 2011; Expert report, 29 July 2011. p. 8.
23 Official site of the Energy Ministry of the Russian Federation: http://minenergo.gov.ru/activity/
powerindustry/powersector/structure/manufacture_principal_views/.
24 According to Article 26 of the Federal Law on Use of Nuclear Power, licensed activities in the
sphere of nuclear power use include: location, construction, operation and shut-down of nuclear
power units, radioactive waste storage facilities, handling of nuclear materials and radioactive
substances, handling of radioactive waste, performance of expert safety examinations (expert
examination of safety feasibility) of nuclear power use facilities and (or) activities in the sphere
of nuclear power use.
25 Article 9, Clause 3 of the Federal Law on Electric Power.
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