‘I am inclined to think that charging for hookup is totally wrong. Our power industry executives are trying to make up for the lack of investments they kept experiencing over the last few years, and they are doing this at the expense of new consumers rather than through the use of their profits,’ Good Taste Meatpacking Plant CEO and Chairman of Sverdlovsk Region Meat Union Sergey Emelyanov said to UrBC.

‘For one thing, a lot of large animal production units are being put up in Russia within the framework of the national program, and this means that they will have to pay for the opportunity to use the power supply networks. In the end, this is sure to affect the end users in a very painful way, I believe charging new businesses for connection to the mains is above all a restraining factor for the development of our weakest field of economy, that is, agriculture,’ he noted.

In the meantime, RAO UES of Russia is currently negotiating for a greater charge for connection to their networks with thirty-two Russian regions. The company’s representatives believe the fees charged in some of these regions are insufficient for their business development.