On January 31, 2015, the Board of JSC ROSSETI held a regular meeting in the form of a retreat in Kaliningrad, presided over by the company's General Director, Oleg Budargin.

The meeting agenda included consideration of the current condition and prospects of Rosseti subsidiaries in response to changing economic and financial conditions, and discussion of specific measures to preserve stability in the current economic environment. The meeting was held in an expanded format, with general directors of subsidiaries participating.

As the head of Rosseti emphasized, in this current difficult situation, reliability was the absolute priority. In this regard, meeting participants discussed, among other things, the need to reduce the scope of investment programs in order to fully implement maintenance campaigns, support existing assets, and execute requests for subsidized technological connections. Oleg Budargin also stressed the strict necessity of retaining industrial personnel.

There is a decline in construction of new grid infrastructure, marked by a need to intensify work with federal authorities and leaders of entities of the Russian Federation, with the goal of making adjustments to corresponding plans for the development of networks.

The serious problem of rising debt of Rosseti subsidiaries and affiliates was examined separately. Thus, to date, the volume of accumulated accounts receivable due from consumers to Rosseti is more than 126 billion roubles, including debt of providers of last resort, more than 80 billion. Note the preservation of negative dynamics in terms of payments by supply companies. 

Thus, the operational indicators of calculations for January 2015 are on the order of 60%, which is 20% lower compared to the same period last year.

In this regard, it is important to pay special attention to the work of joint regional commissions, set up on the initiative of Rosseti, to tighten payment discipline in regions of the Russian Federation.

In addition, as noted by the participants of the meeting, and in agreement with regional administrations, it is important to support the rehabilitation of individual local grid companies, especially those that provide electricity to socially important facilities.

Oleg Budargin also stated the importance of assisting small and medium-sized businesses, giving individual instruction in conjunction with regional governments, to explore possible additional forms of support in terms of expanding the list of preferential technical projects. In addition, it is important to ensure the involvement of small and medium-sized businesses in implementing energy service contracts.

In general, the Head of Rosseti emphasized that businesses must confidently overcome the current economic difficulties, successfully implementing a set of measures for cost reduction, optimization of management structures, and increased operating and investment efficiency. "It is important to emerge from the crisis on a new level of financial stability, more mature, strong, effective - the winners," emphasized the General Director of JSC ROSSETI.

The Board decided to continue the discussion of these, and other relevant matters, given the current situation in the power grids sector, next week.