Transferring System Operator's functions to one of Russian energy market participants will lead to conflict of interest, fall in optimality of decisions - company
MOSCOW. Sept 10 (Interfax) - The initiative to integrate PJSC Rosseti and the System Operator is not supported by the operator and all major industry participants, including associations of energy consumers, energy producers and the Market Council, on a consolidated basis, the System Operator said in a press release.
"In the context of the need for large-scale development of Russia's electricity industry and huge investment, the development of optimal technical and economically efficient proposals for the development of the power system, combining the development of both generation and the grid complex, becomes particularly important. This is the task being addressed today by the new long-term planning system in the electricity industry, which was significantly modified in 2023," it said.
The transfer of the development planning function to one of the large participants in the energy market institutionally changes the planning system and will inevitably lead to a decrease in the optimality of decisions made, due to such a participant considering its own commercial interests, the System Operator said.
The company's main function is the operational control of the operating regime of the entire country's power system, including coordinating the work of all participants' equipment, the System Operator said. The transfer of this function to Rosseti will lead to a direct conflict of interest with generating and other grid companies, it said.
"Due to the different tasks solved by the System Operator and grid companies, duplicating their functions is currently impossible," it said.
The general director of Rosseti, Andrei Ryumin, said in an interview with Interfax on the sidelines of the 2025 Eastern Economic Forum that Rosseti supports the idea of merging with the System Operator. "We discuss this regularly, and for our part, we support such a merger. Most colleagues treat this with understanding, but there are nuances," Ryumin said.
Such a decision is necessary due to the duplication of functions and infrastructure and, consequently, the doubling of costs, Ryumin said. ""We believe that the trunk grids and the System Operator should be a single company," he said.
The topic of merging the two companies has arisen before. Back in 2013, the then head of Rosseti, Oleg Budargin, approached the Energy Ministry with a similar idea. The next stage of discussions took place in 2017 amid power grid accidents that occurred at the time.
The topic was raised again during a speech by Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev in the Federation Council in July 2025. At that time, Tsivilev said that, unlike the System Operator, Rosseti is not represented in all regions of Russia, so for now the System Operator should continue to perform its functions.
"But we are beginning a gradual phase of bringing these two functions closer together, because today we see that there is a duplication of functions between Rosseti and the System Operator. The task is to remove this duplication of functions," Tsivilev said.
Following the minister's speech, the Federation Council adopted a resolution recommending that the Russian government consider the issue of eliminating the duplicate functions of the System Operator and the organization managing the unified national power grid, with their transfer to this organization.
JSC System Operator performs the functions of centralized operational and dispatch control in Russia's Unified Energy System (UES), as well as in technologically isolated territorial electric power systems. The company is 100% owned by the state.
