Russian Grids General Director Oleg Budargin spoke at a meeting devoted to the socio-economic development of the Arkhangelsk region chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting included representatives from federal ministries and agencies, business communities, industrial and public organisations from around the region.

During the meeting, Governor of Arkhangelsk region Igor Orlov raised the issue of the current debt of ArkhEnergoSbyt, a local electricity company, before the region’s entire electricity complex, which includes a branch of the Russian Grids subsidiary, the North-Western IDGC’s ArkhEnergo, and a further 42 large and small-scale territorial grid companies.

Oleg Budargin confirmed to the President that the issue of non-payment on the part of the guaranteeing supplier has reached a critical level, as the overdue debt before ArkhEnergo alone, which provides up to 85% of the net supply of electricity in the region, has presently reached around 2.6 billion roubles. “This is the cost of dozens of annual maintenance and repair projects undertaken by ArkhEnergo. This is also what it costs to build the necessary infrastructure to connect five regions in the Arkhangelsk region to the central power grid which are currently being supplied with costly electricity through autonomous diesel generators,” he added.

Russian Grids believes that it is pertinent to immediately resolve the issue of non-payment from the guaranteeing supplier as it threatens the reliability and the safety of the electricity supply in this Russian region, which is home to strategically important industrial enterprises connected with sectors such as shipbuilding and pulp and paper.