OREANDA-NEWS. Evgeny Makarov, General Director of JSC “IDGC of the Centre”, and Victor Shershunov, the Governor of Kostroma region, signed the “Agreement on Cooperation between the Administration of Kostroma Region and JSC “IDGC of the Centre” regarding the development of power lines and secure power supply provision to the customers in Kostroma region”.

The Agreement will guarantee technological upgrading of the regional power industry as well as the introduction of additional facilities necessary for customer connection.

“We have established a good human and business relationship with the Governor and the region. This Agreement will serve as a confirmation of our intentions for the next five years, including the consolidated investment programme of “IDGC of the Centre”, “Kostromaenergo” and FGC of UES”, stressed the General Director of JSC “IDGC of the Centre”, Evgeny Makarov. - “This will accelerate the development of power industry and the economic growth of Kostroma region”.

“Cooperation with the power industry is of great importance for us, - emphasised the Governor of Kostroma region, Mr. Victor Shershunov, in his turn. - The possibilities for regional development are closely connected with the power facilities that we can provide our investors with.”

Under the Agreement the integration of the JSC “Kostromaenergo” power grid complex and municipal power facilities of Kostroma region is planned. This is very important for the establishment of a unified service area centre, reduction of unit costs for line maintenance, for the perspective of tariff reduction on power transportation due to lines integration and the use of JSC “Kostromaenergo” infrastructure by the municipal power facilities, as well as power loss reduction thanks to the introduction of new approaches in the power energy metering and power supply schemes optimization.

The Agreement highlights the customer service improvement, changes in the procedure for new customer connections towards simplification and time -saving on the territory of Kostroma region in 2007-2009 and joint efforts for establishing Customer Care Centres.

In accordance with the Agreement the proposals on the perspective development of 35-500 kV lines in Kostroma region up to 2015 will be prepared considering the development of the generating units based on an estimated power consumption growth.

At the present moment the major regional projects are: “Kronostar”, Pipe producing plant in Volgorechensk, Pulp-and-paper plant in Manturovo, cement production in Soligalichsk district, etc. This depends a lot on the advanced development of power industry complex. Among the new power facilities are the construction of 110/10 kV “Davydovskaya” substation, distribution substation - 5 with cable lines routing from “Central”substation, 2 cable lines routing and transformer substation equipment installation in the town of Volgorechensk,etc. In total, within five year the power assets will amount to 6 billion roubles.

The Regional Administration is intending to support the companies engaged in power facilities construction and re-construction works. Tariffs for power supply will be fixed and examined annually within the delegated rights. JSC “IDGC of the Centre” will finance the investment projects of JSC “Kostromaenergo” and will control the use of the tariff receipts of JSC “Kostromaenergo” for specified purposes only.