Chairman of RAO UES of Russia Anatoliy Chubais signed a protocol that enumerates 16 power facilities located in the ‘dramatically overloaded regions’ that could experience electricity cuts in the coming winter. Yekaterinburg was on the list among the other 15 places.

According to the spokesperson for Yekaterinburg Electrical Network Company, over twenty local businesses were asked to think of some electricity-saving measures in August 2006. If the temperature does not come any lower than 25 degrees centigrade below this winter, all the power facilities should handle the workload okay. However, stronger frosts pose a serious threat to the equipment due to the overwhelming workload.

So far, twenty enterprises have agreed to do some contingency planning, including Kalina Concern JSC, Vektor Production Enterprise, Ural Works of Process Gases, Ural-Thermo Ltd., and N.A. Semikhatov Scientific Production Association (Automatica).