The wholesale energy market may pay RUB 31.02 billion in 2024. for reducing electricity tariffs in the Far East
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As Kommersant found out, in 2024 the wholesale energy market may pay 31 billion rubles. for the artificial reduction of electricity tariffs in the Far East. The volume of payments to industry in the European part of the Russian Federation, the Urals and Siberia will decrease by approximately 4.5 billion rubles. year on year after sharp growth this year. The volume of payments is decreasing because the government has decided to completely phase out subsidies by 2028, the FAS says. However, in order to cancel the support mechanism on time, the rate of payment reduction must be increased threefold, industrial energy consumers believe.
The wholesale energy market (the European part of the Russian Federation, the Urals and Siberia) may pay 31.02 billion rubles in 2024. for reducing electricity tariffs in the Far East, follows from the FAS presentation (available to Kommersant). The total payment by the wholesale energy market for tariff reductions will decrease by 12.4% year-on-year, or by approximately RUB 4.48 billion. The basic tariff for commercial consumers in the Far East at high and medium voltage levels will be set at 6.83 rubles. per 1 kWh (increase by 8.9% year-on-year), and for low-voltage consumers – 8.06 rubles. (plus 9.1% year on year). The final decision on the amount of payment will be made by the government commission for the development of the electric power industry. The FAS reminded that the mechanism will not affect tariffs for the population in the region.
In the Far Eastern Federal District (FEFD), energy tariffs are set by the state. In some regions of the district, including Yakutia, Kamchatka and Chukotka, tariffs for a number of commercial consumers are artificially reduced, and part of the load is covered by the business of the rest of the country through a surcharge on the price of power (Far Eastern surcharge).
The government launched a mechanism to reduce electricity tariffs in the Far Eastern Federal District in mid-2017 under the pretext of attracting investment to the region. During 2017–2022, the wholesale market has already paid about 200 billion rubles for price reductions in the Far Eastern Federal District. Against the backdrop of harsh criticism from regulators and energy market participants, the authorities decided to begin a gradual phase-out of the subsidy starting in 2022. It was assumed that the regulator would gradually reduce premiums by 2028 for budgetary organizations, housing and communal services and fuel and energy sectors, as well as for companies mining precious metals and stones in the Far Eastern Federal District. However, it was not possible to implement the idea immediately: in 2022, the subsidy for the first time fell by 12%, to 33.6 billion rubles, but in 2023 it increased again by 5.7%, to 35.5 billion rubles. The FAS did not explain the reasons for the increase in the premium.
This year, the government, unexpectedly for the industry, decided to amend the mechanism. Judging by the amendments adopted by the State Duma, the subsidy will not be reduced until 2028 for companies that connected to low-voltage networks before 2021 and began mining precious metals and stones in the Far Eastern Federal District. Only Yakutia falls under this category of consumers in the Far Eastern Federal District, the FAS told Kommersant. The Market Council (the energy market regulator) told Kommersant that such organizations account for about 3% of the Far Eastern surcharge for 2023. The FAS clarified that the premium for these consumers in 2024, according to preliminary estimates, will not exceed 1 billion rubles.
The Community of Energy Consumers (the lobby for industrial electricity consumers) told Kommersant that reducing the premium at such a pace will not allow minimizing subsidies, as established by law, by 2028, and for this, the reduction in payments on the wholesale energy market should be 2.5–3 times more.
The circumstances that prompted the government to introduce the Far Eastern surcharge have not changed, says Sergei Sasim, director of the Center for Research in the Electric Power Industry at the Higher School of Economics. The level of economically justified prices in the Far Eastern Federal District is still significantly higher than the Russian average: the geographical location of the territories and their technological capabilities make it almost impossible to organize energy supply at a more or less adequate price, he believes. On the other hand, continues Sergei Sasim, the lack of countable and verifiable criteria justifying the conditions for applying the surcharge creates a misunderstanding of tariff policy in this direction.
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