Gref, "Duma and government still have disagreements on energy reform"

The State Duma and the government are still split on the scheme of RAO UESreorganization, said Russian Economy Minister German Gref following ameeting of the tripartite (State Duma - Federation Council - government)conciliatory commission, whose aim was to prepare a common variant of thepower engineering reform for the first reading. According to Gref, there isdisagreement about the state's ownership in the System Operator (which willserve as a power dispatcher), the Federal Network Company (whose aim is tomanage the grid) and hydroelectric plants during the reorganization of RAOUES, the parent company.The government and RAO UES insist on the pro-rata allocation of shares inthese companies among its owners. In this event the government would gaincontrol of 51 percent in the System Operator, the Federal Network Companyand hydroelectric plants. Gref says that the further enlargement of thegovernment-held share stake to 75 percent plus one share needs to be madeby means of civilized market buyouts. .