A draft on energy demand management for the wholesale market was submitted to the State Duma

MOSCOW, 13 Oct – PRIME. The Government of the Russian Federation submitted to the State Duma a bill introducing services for managing the consumption regime for participants in the wholesale electricity and power market to improve the efficiency of the national energy system, follows from the database of the lower house of parliament.

The document is aimed at creating a legal basis for the functioning of aggregators for managing changes in the mode of consumption (demand management) of electricity in the wholesale market and increasing the level of settlements between energy sales organizations and grid companies for the rendered electricity transmission services.

The bill consolidates the legal status of aggregators for managing changes in the mode of electricity consumption and introduces a new type of service – services for managing changes in the mode of electricity consumption. As part of a pilot experiment, such a mechanism has shown good results, it provides a more even load on the energy system by smoothing its growth during peak hours, which is beneficial to all parties, its head Mikhail Mishustin explained earlier on Thursday at a government meeting.

The document regulates the issues of financial condition and financial discipline of last resort suppliers and energy sales organizations. Their failure to fulfill their obligations to pay for electricity transmission services negatively affects the energy industry as a whole, the developers note. They note that the total amount of debt for electricity transmission services increased from 84.2 billion rubles as of January 1, 2018 to 97.8 billion (of which more than 25 billion are overdue debts) as of January 1, 2022.

The draft law obliges guaranteeing suppliers and energy sales organizations in the wholesale electricity and capacity market to comply with the indicators of financial discipline established by the government of the Russian Federation, which reflect the fulfillment of obligations to pay for electricity transmission services. Non-compliance with this indicator will be the basis for depriving them of the status of a subject of such a wholesale market. At the same time, the Market Council is vested with the authority to monitor the financial condition of guaranteeing suppliers and energy sales organizations and fulfill their obligations to pay for electricity transmission services.

At the same time, an obligation is introduced for electric power industry entities to provide commercial infrastructure organizations of the wholesale electricity and capacity market with the information necessary to monitor the implementation of financial discipline indicators that reflect the fulfillment of obligations to pay for electricity transmission services.