OREANDA-NEWS. March 26, 2014. The Government of the Russian Federation passed No.379-r Decree to approve the Action Plan for developing competition in the electric power industry of the Russian Federation.

The Action Plan is drafted to execute Clause 4.1.1 of the “Road Map” for “Developing Competition and Improving the Antimonopoly Policy”.

The approved Plan, in particular, provides for:

- Introducing changes to the Rules of the wholesale market of electric power and capacity, including improvement of the procedure for competitive capacity take-offs, liberalizing the requirements to the participants and reducing entry barriers to the wholesale markets, improving approaches to establishing free power transfer zones

- Drafting a concept of a competitive model of retail markets, particularly, enabling registration of a single group of delivery points in a constituent territory of the Russian Federation

- Drafting recommendations to the state representatives in the governing bodies of the “Market Council” Non-Profit Partnership on the measures towards increasing transparency of the work of organizations involved in commercial and technological infrastructure of the wholesale market

- Clarifying the procedures for determining the dominant position of a participant of the market of electric power and capacity by adopting a relevant draft law.

FAS has drafted several documents specified in the Action Plan. FAS drafted and submitted to the Government of the Russian Federation, in accordance with the established procedures, changes to the Rules on the wholesale market of electric power, enabling registration of a single group of delivery points in a constituent territory of the Russian Federation.

By adopting the Decree, the Government of the Russian Federation shall enable power supply companies and large industrial consumers to register a single group of delivery points within the boundaries of a constituent territory of the Russian Federation or a power district on equal terms with providers of last resort.

The draft Decree equalizes power supply companies and large consumers with providers of last resort entering the wholesale market of electric power and capacity; thus, excluding discriminatory conditions against them.

The Rules of antimonopoly regulation and control over electric power industry, adopted in December 2013, introduced the procedure for preliminary control over applications filed by participants of competitive capacity take-offs to verify their economic rationale.

There are also several measures supporting non-discriminatory conditions for participating on the wholesale market of electric power and capacity, particularly, in the tenders for renewable energy sources projects and changing particular elements of the financial guarantees participants of the wholesale market of electric power and capacity. FAS issued warnings to a group of persons, comprising the “Market Council” Non-Profit Partnership and “ATS” OJSC, to eliminate discriminatory conditions for taking part in the above tenders for renewable energy sources projects and change the requirements to the persons that have the rights to give financial guarantees to the participants on the wholesale market of electric power and capacity.

“Adopting the Action Plan will enable to more fully and promptly implement well-elaborated ideas on developing competition in the electric power markets that lay the basis for further measures on liberalizing access to the wholesale and retail markets of electric power and capacity”, said the Head of FAS Department for Control over Electric Power Industry, Vitaly Korolyov.