Moscow, 1 February 2006. According to updates, the power plants of RAO "UES of Russia" increased electricity generation in January 2006 by 10.3% to 70.9 billion kWh from 64.3 billion kWh in the same month last year. In January 2006, energy consumption across Russia totalled 95.8 billion kWh, up 7.6% compared to the same period of 2005.

During the month, the thermal power plants of RAO "UES of Russia" generated 62 billion kWh of electricity, which represents an increase of 14.4% from 54.2 billion kWh in January 2005. Generation by the hydropower plants fell by 11.9% to 8.9 billion kWh from 10.1 billion kWh, which was ere due to the lower water inflow levels at the reservoirs of some HPPs during the month.

The reason for the surge in electricity generation was not only the overall growth of the national economy, but primarily the extremely low temperatures observed in January. The load in the UES of Russia during the cold snap peaked at 150,300 MW. The situation was most complicated in Moscow and St.-Petersburg, where the evening peak loads reached 16,200 MW and 7,000 MW, respectively.