Electricity tariffs in Russia to rise by 19 per cent from January 1

Tariffs on electricity disbursed by the federal wholesale market of energy capacities /FOREM/ will from January 1, 2003 be increased by 19 per cent, and rental fees of national power grid Unified Energy Systems will rise roughly by 12 per cent, Georgy Kutovoi, head of the federal power commission, told journalists.

According to him, this decision was taken on Monday at a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko.

Kutovoi indicated that the decision was passed within the framework of the government's approved size of tariff indexation on electricity for end users of 14 per cent.

In the course of Monday's meeting, Kutovoi said, the question was also examined of setting tariffs on electric power disbursed by FOREM for export. Electricity for export will be disbursed at average FOREM tariffs, with due account taken of price zones, he added.