RAO UES of Russia will be restructured only after consensus among branches of power is reached - premier

The programme of restructuring the Unified Energy Systems of Russia "will be adopted only after consensus among the government, parliament and the heads of the Russian regions is reached". As a RIA Novosti correspondent reports, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov stated this on Monday speaking at the annual investment conference Russia - Sustained Growth.

As the Premier stressed, "reform of the electric power sector is a so sensitive sphere that it can cause an outburst of emotions as a result of a slightest mistake". Kasyanov assured that the programme of reform will be considered by all the branches of power this autumn "because of the seriousness of the consequences".

In reforming the power industry the Russian Premier sees the prime task "in dividing the infrastructure and competition components". As Kasyanov believes, at the same time "it is necessary to preserve the infrastructural part as the state's share and to give away all the rest into the competition component".

"RAO UES must be an effectively functioning corporation", the chairman of the government emphasized and added that a decision on reforming RAO must be taken "with full comprehension".

Kasyanov also stated that during a reform of RAO UES the rights of the shareholders, the minority ones in particular, "will be taken into account and protected".