MOSENERGO has turned off two more feeders at the Moskvich automobile plant. Of the 31 plant feeders only two are currently in operation. Feeders were turned off after Moskvich failed to comply with the terms of an October 2000 agreement. According to this agreement the plant had to pay its debt of 3 million rubles to power suppliers by January 15, 2001, as well as make regular payments that totaled 2.5 million rubles.

On October 24, 2000, MOSENERGO and Moskvich signed an agreement to schedule the repayment of debts for the power consumed by the plant in 2000. This agreement provided that Moskvich would make monthly repayments for the amount of 3 million rubles and would cover current payments for the amount of 2.5 million rubles. Total debt for 2000 was 30 million rubles. Last December the plant made one payment for the total amount of 12 million rubles which covered the debts and regular payments for November and December 2000. After the payment was received, the Power Company turned on three of the plant's feeders. However, there were no further payments. Moskvich did not inform MOSENERGO of the reasons why they did not fulfill their obligations. MOSENERGO officials notified the plant's management in advance that they were planning to turn the feeders off, but managers did not respond.

The total amount Moskvich owes to MOSENERGO for the consumed power is more than 565 million rubles. For the period from 1995 through 1999, the Moskvich debt for consumed power rose from 14.9 to 275.8 million rubles.

Elaborating on the company's actions towards outstanding debtors head of MOSENERGO's City Bureau on Industry Customers V.Cheledenkov said, "It has never been the case that we just come in and grab the knife switch right away. Any customer has two or three power lines for feeding. Only in exceptional cases do we resort to cutting off power."

While implementing punitive measures towards Moskvich, MOSENERGO has made all efforts to ensure that customers that receive power through Moskvich's facilities will not be affected in any way.