03 November 2003 17:29
RUSSIA: RAO EES PROPOSES LOWER RATES...
Nationwide utility RAO EES plans to lower the price of electricity by 20 percent on 1 November for residential
customers in a number of key regions, "Vremya novostei" reported on 22 October. According to internal company
documents obtained by the newspaper, the 1 November debut of a competitive market to trade 5-15 percent of the
country's wholesale electricity will make the rate reduction possible. The target regions for the program are
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhnii Novgorod, and Perm. News of the experimental directive, which RAO EES head Anatolii
Chubais does not appear to have signed yet, confounded observers used to the utility's persistent pleas for rate
hikes. Analysts saw the plan as a thinly veiled attempt by Chubais to help the Union of Rightist Forces (SPS) in
upcoming parliamentary elections. (Chubais is co-chairman of SPS.) Dmitrii Orlov, deputy director of the Center for
Political Technologies, told "Gazeta" on 24 October, "If a decision is made to reduce rates...it will be
nothing other than a pre-election move by Chubais." "Vedomosti" lambasted the plan in a 24 October
editorial, calling the idea of relying on an as-yet untested electricity market "premature." The editors went
on to note, "This economic decision was likely dictated by the political interests of Chubais, who is the
co-chairperson of SPS. It is difficult to imagine that the head of RAO EES does not know how harmful political
adventures can be for the economy." DK Copyright (c) 2003. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty
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