The Ministry of Energy may invite the population to refuse low electricity tariffs and reduce consumption

As Kommersant found out, the Ministry of Energy may invite the population to take part in reducing the demand for electricity: turn off household appliances at certain times, which should lead to unloading of the energy system and a reduction in prices. To do this, you will have to switch to the tariffs of commercial enterprises, which are on average 34% higher than prices for the population, receiving a reward in return. Analysts doubt that such a deal will be profitable, proposing to involve young people and environmental activists in the experiment through mobile services.

The Ministry of Energy wants to attract the population to the market for managing the demand for electricity (demand response, which involves reducing consumption during peak load hours), it follows from the draft action plan on the efficient functioning of the electric power industry (“Kommersant has seen the document”). To do this, a household consumer (the owner of an apartment or house) will have to “voluntarily refuse to purchase electricity at regulated tariffs,” the draft plan says.

The FAS, together with other departments, can develop a draft of the relevant federal law by the beginning of 2025, the plan says. The FAS explained to Kommersant that the draft plan is being developed by the Ministry of Energy. The Ministry of Energy reported that the “road map” is “being developed.”

The idea of ​​attracting the population to the demand management market belongs to the System Operator (SO, energy system dispatcher), Kommersant sources say.

In October 2023, the CO held a meeting on this topic with market participants. It is economically unprofitable for individuals to participate in unloading consumption and saving electricity in general, including due to artificially reduced tariffs. The CO suggested applying non-financial incentives, for example, through “personal communication” (through applications) or through “a special tariff menu when connecting household equipment to a remote control system,” the organization said in the presentation.

The CO explained to Kommersant that, based on the results of discussions with the market community, a concept is being developed and negotiations are underway with guaranteeing suppliers (GS) on conducting experiments “with the implementation of project elements.” Kommersant’s sources add that SOEs in the household sector can become aggregators that will manage the consumption of individuals.

The Ministry of Energy told Kommersant that “the idea is to reduce one’s own electricity consumption by the stated level at specified hours and receive a reward from this.” The Market Council (energy market regulator) told Kommersant that it is advisable to work on the initiative only after the launch of a target demand management model. According to Kommersant, a draft government resolution on the target model is in the White House. The document implies the launch of a demand management mechanism in the wholesale market for large commercial consumers.

Involving household consumers in the demand management system will be extremely problematic due to the lack of obvious economic motivation at current low tariffs, says Sergei Sasim, director of the Center for Electric Power Research at the Higher School of Economics. Now the national average tariff for individuals is 5.3 rubles. for 1 kWh, which is 34% lower than economically feasible, he calculated. Commercial consumers will pay an additional 300.6 billion rubles for reduced tariffs for individuals this year, the expert notes.

Analysts interviewed by Kommersant also doubt that the population will agree to voluntarily give up low tariffs in order to participate in the demand management market, the essence of which is quite difficult to explain to the average person. Sergey Sasim believes that in order to encourage consumers to participate in the program, the benefits must exceed the sharp increase in the tariff, but in the current market conditions the sources of such benefits are not obvious. Voluntary refusal by household consumers from a regulated tariff may be acceptable only in those regions where regulators reduce cross-subsidies and prices are relatively high (for example, in Moscow).

Igor Chausov from the EnergyNet center believes that expanding the mechanism for managing demand at the expense of the population is necessary for the energy system, because such consumers have significant opportunities for managing electricity consumption. For example, since last year in India, 55 thousand residents have been participating in a pilot project with a total consumption of 75 MW, and next year 200 MW will be collected.

To motivate the population, it is necessary to explain that demand management is a socially significant matter in which one can participate without much effort and money using digital services, Mr. Chausov believes: “If the programs are made with creativity, they will be of interest to urban youth as one of the ways active participation in matters that are significant for society, also related to fashionable climate and environmental topics.”

Polina Smertina