Business news

MINSK, 30 October (BelTA) – The common electricity market with Russia may help reduce tariffs for the Belarusian real sector by almost 25%, Deputy Chairman of the State Standardization Committee, Director of the Energy Efficiency Department Mikhail Malashenko said in an interview to the Respublika newspaper, BelTA has learned.

A decision has been taken that the common electricity market with Russia will be launched in 2019, which means there will be a wholesale and retail electricity market inside Belarus. “We should remember that tariffs on the wholesale electricity market are much lower than on the retail market. Big companies, the major players on this market, which make up the country’s GDP will be in a better position,” said Mikhail Malashenko.

“Tariff forecasting is not an easy task. According to the preliminary estimates of the Energy Ministry and Belenergo Company, for real economic sector the tariff for the final customer will be at the level of 7.9 cents. Now, it makes up 11.3 cents. The difference is significant, about 25%. Energy-consuming companies will feel it in the first place,” he noted.

According to Mikhail Malashenko, the electrical energy development strategy envisages that the population will pay off 100% of the prime cost of electrical energy, which is now makes up more than 80%.