Today, October 1, as part of the work taking place in Moscow at the VTB Capital Investment Forum "Russia Calling", General Director of JSC Rosseti, Oleg Budargin took part in the panel discussion "The increasing pace of regional growth - promoting success stories”.

The event was attended by Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, the governors of Vladimir and Kaluga regions Svetlana Orlova and Anatoly Artamonov, respectively, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC NLMK Vladimir Lisin, the managers of Nestle Russia, Ferrero, Roca Group, as well as Russian and foreign investors, analysts, and experts. President and Chairman of the Management Board of VTB, Andrey Kostin, opened the first day of the Forum.

During his speech, the CEO of Rosseti talked about the company's plans for the development of electrical power infrastructure and outlined the priorities facing the grid complex in the near future.

"The strategic objective of Rosseti is a reliable power supply for consumers. We deliver over 70% of generated power in the Russian Federation down the entire process chain - from power by the main networks and distribution networks to end users and develop projects for integration with our Euro-Asian partners. Despite the fact that we are operating in fairly complicated tariff conditions, in a short time we succeeded in reducing specific accidents by 10%, achieved a 9% reduction in electric power delivery shortages as well as recovery time to resume power supply to consumers due to technological violations, and reduced the economic loss due to power interruptions by 18%," said Budargin.

At the same time, according to the CEO of Rosseti, for further grid development, to achieve maximum effect, it is important to think about improving the management model. "This is not merely a review of the electric power reform, but further development. To date, we have achieved significant results in reducing costs and improving efficiency. Now, however, the internal reserves are almost exhausted," said Budargin.

Speaking about the results of measures to enhance the attractiveness of doing business in Russia, the CEO of Rosseti noted the availability of the grid infrastructure. Oleg Budargin spoke about the measures taken by the company in this direction. "It was possible to reduce the cost of grid connection by half, reduce the time needed by 30 percent, and increase the number of open power supply centres by 20 percent," he said.

Nevertheless, according to the General Director of Rosseti, today there are a number of problematic issues in the electric power sector that require systemic change to ensure stable operation and future growth.

In his view, an important factor in the stable and efficient operation of a network complex is the synchronization of development plans of the regions. "On the one hand, it is important not to build extra capacity where it is not needed, and, conversely, not to leave the active areas of socio-economic growth without ‘open’ centres of power supply," said Oleg Budargin.

“Another problem is the decision concerning individual tariffs. According to the head of Rosseti, business needs to grow on an equal footing; it is inadmissible when the rates in neighboring regions differ on several points. It is possible to rectify this situation only by the active participation and cooperation of regional authorities,” says Oleg Budargin.

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The 6th Annual Investment Forum VTB Capital "Russia Calling!" takes place in Moscow on October 1-2. The Forum is a unique platform to highlight the most current trends in the Russian investment and economic climate.