Min says no money to eliminate cross-subsidization in power

ST. PETERSBURG, Jul 18 (PRIME) -- The Russian government does not currently have enough funds to liquidate cross-subsidization in the power sector, Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin told reporters on Thursday.

“There is a problem connected with cross-subsidization, it must somehow be solved. This is (elimination of cross-subsidization) what we should strive for, and then we must look for sources to do it. There are no sources (now),” Oreshkin said.

The Economic Development Ministry earlier suggested replacing cross-subsidization in the power sector, where consumers in one region pay more for power so that prices in other regions are lower, with subsidies from the federal budget in 2020–2021 and estimated budget spending on it at 402 billion rubles annually. On Thursday, the relevant draft presidential decree was deleted from the legal information portal.

(62.9451 rubles – U.S. $1)

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