MOSCOW, October 16. /TASS/. Energy companies need to get creative amid power shortages, and not pass their extra costs on to the consumer, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a plenary session of the Russian Energy Week.
"We have local electricity shortages, primarily in the areas where large industrial, transport, and logistics projects are being built. We must cover this deficit through the development of electric grids, by upgrading generating equipment, and commissioning new power plants. At the same time, I would like to emphasize that the energy companies’ costs should not just be included in prices, so that consumers have to bear the cost. More flexible solutions are needed, including regulatory innovations, electricity demand management, and mechanisms to support fuel and energy investment. And, of course, I am waiting for proposals from the Russian government here, which we will discuss at a separate meeting soon," he said.
According to the head of state, global trends dictate that power companies will have a larger onus on them going forward. "There are estimates that global electricity production will double in the next 25 years. Moreover, about 85% of the additional demand will be generated outside the so-called developed economies - in the countries of the global South," he explained.
The Russian energy system, Putin noted, is one of the world’s largest. "Our generation facilities have a total installed capacity of almost 270 gigawatts. And this huge complex is working stably and smoothly," he said.