Mr. Pavel Livinskiy, Rosseti's CEO, discussed the top priority developmental objectives of the region's power grid system with Mr. Sergey Tsivilev, the Kuznets, Basin Governor, in Moscow today. The meeting resulted in signing the cooperation agreement till 2028, whereby Rosseti Siberia will invest over RUB 18 billion into upgrading the power grids.

The discussion participants noted that the Kuznetsk Basin power industry has high energy intensity and a great number of category consumers, which requires assitional efforts to support the required reliability. High wear and tear of the equipment (most of which has operated for over 55 years) will also require major investments in renovation.

Development of mutually advantageous cooperation between the power grid company and the Kemerovo Region administration will facilitate reliable and uninterrupted power supply to consumers and improve the region's investment potential. By 2028, Rosseti Siberia is going to invest RUB 18 billion into the region's power industry development.

The agreement envisages the top priority efforts to enhance the reliability of substations and distribution points, distribution networks of all voltage categories. In particular, RUB 3.5 billion will be invested into the grid digitalization projects.

In turn, the Kemerovo Region Administration will facilitate, according to the agreement, the necessary conditions for reconstruction, refurbishment and upgrading the fixed assets of Rosseti Siberia's Kuznetsk Basin Branch, in particular, by consolidating the power grids under the single operator. The long-term agreement parameters allow to clearly understand the sources of financing and determine the particular regions, the weak points, in particular, where the power supply reliability should be improved, and on the other hand, guarantees that these efforts will not entail the rate increase for consumers.

- Joint operations will help enhance efficiency of the power grids in the region: to reduce the new consumer connection period from 180 to 70 days, improve the availability of intelligent meters to consumers, minimize the number and duration of power supply interruptions, losses in power grids and depreciation of the power grids, noted Sergey Tsivilev.

Ņonsumer care is our company's absolute priority. We have reached mutual understanding with the Kuznetsk Region authorities concerning the top priority objectives and the overall vision of how to address them in the nearest future. Let me note that when elaborating the efforts as part of the Agreement, we sought to take all proposals from the regional authorities and heads of municipal entities into account. "We understand it very well that all investments will be as efficient as possible and be intended to meet the region's needs," emphasized Pavel Livinskiy.