Moscow, 16 December 2003. The enterprises of RAO "UES of Russia" are successfully going through the 2003/2004 autumn-winter peak period. Currently, the fuel inventories at the Holding's power plants are significantly higher than the target requirements: the coal inventories are 20,950,100 tonnes (123.5% of the target), whereas the heavy fuel oil inventories are 3,308,900 tonnes (118.4%) The repair and maintenance is carried out by RAO UES enterprises as scheduled, and in some regions ahead of schedule. As at 1 December, scheduled maintenance was completed at turbines with an aggregate capacity of 39,231 MW (100% of the target), at power boilers with an aggregate output of 165,217 t/h (99%), and at hot water boilers with a steam output of 10,008 Gcal/h (106%); 679.86 km of heating grids were repaired (111% of the plan).

According to most recent reports, the electricity consumption in Russia over the 11 months this year was 799,4 TWh, which exceeded the forecast amount by 15.1 TWh (1.9%) – a 3.8% increase in year-on-year terms. The electricity output by the power plants of RAO "UES of Russia" grew 4.1% to 572.5 TWh compared to 2002. Over the 11 months of 2003, the heat generation by RAO UES entities increased year-on-year by 3.4% to 405.6 million Gcal.

RAO "UES of Russia" emphasises that smooth passage through the 2003/2004 winter peak period depends primarily on full and timely payment by consumers of the heat and electricity supplied to them. In the first 11 months of 2003, the average level of payments collection throughout the Holding (including payment of the arrears) made 101%.