Moscow. 3 November 2006. According to recent updates, in the first ten months of 2006, the power plants of RAO "UES of Russia" increased electricity generation year-on-year by 5.1% to 563.1 billion kWh from 535.6 billion kWh.

In January-October 2006, the country's electricity consumption grew 4.7% to 780.6 billion kWh from 745.9 billion kWh; in October by 5.3% to 83.1 billion kWh from 78.9 billion kWh, which is twice the growth rate projected for the entire 2006 as approved by the regulator.

The dramatic increase in power use this year was observed for the first time not only in winter, during the period of extremely low temperatures, but also during the summer months. Such an increase is due to both economic growth and increased electricity use by the residential sector.

In October, for the first time since the beginning of 2006, the hydrological situation in the Volga-Kama basin was favourable. As a result, the hydropower plants of RAO "UES of Russia" generated 10.4 billion kWh during the month, up 9.5% yoy. However, over the ten months of 2006, the hydropower generation declined by 1.8% to 104.4 billion kWh. This was due to the lower water inflow levels in the reservoirs of several large HPPs located in the European part of Russia, which were observed over the past nine months.

Thermal generation by RAO UES power plants grew 6.8% yoy to 458.7 billion kWh.