Russia to prepare take-or-pay mechanism for power grids by mid-April - paper

MOSCOW. Feb 2 (Interfax) - The Russian government plans to prepare regulations for the introduction of a take-or-pay mechanism for power grids by April 15, national daily Kommersant, citing sources, reported on Monday.

Such a mechanism, which has been discussed for many years, would require large new customers (upward of 670 kW) to pay for all requested grid capacity, not just what is used, as is the case now.

The Energy Ministry is supposed to submit the relevant draft resolution by April 15, the paper said.

The ministry is also supposed to present proposals for the possible introduction of such a mechanism for existing customers by March 11.

The Energy Ministry is also supposed to work out another longstanding issue by mid-April, that of a ban on direct connection of new customers to backbone grids, which the ministry said is not being considered, as well as the issue of payment for transmission services depending on the amount of consumption.

A take-or-pay arrangement for capacity has been discussed with state power grid company Rosseti for many years. For example, in 2015 this was proposed as an "anti-crisis" measure to support power grids, and in 2024 it was proposed as a way to solve the problems at group subsidiary Rosseti Sibir.