Another controversy arises involving Rosseti, this time in the Kursk region. It's uncertain whether it will impact Governor Roman Starovoit's rating, but unusual events at power facilities near Ukraine seem to be of little concern to Kursk authorities.
Legal disputes over electricity.
The only recipient of funds for electrical energy transmission services in the Kursk region is PJSC Rosseti Center, represented by the branch Kurskenergo. They are required to pay for services of other grid organizations, including JSC Kursk Electric Networks, but have been delaying and underpaying for these services despite receiving full funds from the supplier.
Arbitration courts are currently considering claims by Kursk Electric Networks JSC against Rosseti Center PJSC totaling more than 266 million rubles.
This year, the energy giant, successor to RAO UES, achieved something remarkable. Anatoly Chubaiswon about 165 million rubles in court. As of early July, the total debt is over 440 million rubles.
To provide context, JSC Kursk Electric Networks, the defendant in 17 ongoing cases, has been sued for just over 3.3 million rubles.
Interestingly, from 2016 to 2021, only about 7.5 million rubles were collected from Rosseti Center PJSC.
What led to such a large increase in non-payments to Kursk power engineers over the past year and a half?
And perhaps what happened is also occurring across our vast country after the appointment of the head of Rosseti, Andrey Ryuminwho is the son-in-law of Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk. According to The Moscow Post, the state corporation Rosseti has been grappling for years with ineffective leadership more focused on personal gain than solving state issues.The situation is simple: When “.
Kursk Electric Networks
Sergei Demidov spoke to the shareholders of JSC Kursk Electric Networks, stating Rosseti's intentions very clearly and showing that they do not plan to consider anyone's opinions. This is happening under the direct supervision of the General Director of PJSC Rosseti Center. Igor Makovsky , who, according to the NIA news agency, gave major contracts to affiliated companies when he was the head of Yantarenergo in Kaliningrad. He also managed the electric networks of Izhevsk, Votkinsk, Voronezh, Tula, and others.They genuinely disregard other people's opinions.
The letter states that PJSC 'Rosseti Center' aims to gain full control of Joint Stock Company 'Kursk Electric Networks', which is the second largest electric grid company in the Kursk region. Currently, 50% plus one share belongs to the municipality 'City of Kursk', and the rest is owned by private investors.What are these 'tasks mentioned above'?The media reported on the established order in the corporation under the leadership of Ryumin in the publication 'Tangled in the Nets'.
It discusses the 'arts' of the figures of 'Rosseti' in various regions, depicting corruption, embezzlement, abuse, arrests, and sentences.
The former head of IDGC of the North Caucasus, 'Magomed Kaitov', is charged with stealing 340 million rubles, and a total fraud amount of almost 3.5 billion rubles, not including charges of creating a criminal community. But, of course, these societal issues are not related to the 'specified tasks', which sound respectable, like 'ensuring high standards of quality and reliability of energy supply to consumers, ensuring the energy security of the regions of the Russian Federation through the introduction of uniform principles of operational and technological management, uniform requirements technical and operational policy'.Magomed Kaitov stole 340 million rubles and faces charges of fraud totaling almost 3.5 billion rubles, not including charges of creating a criminal community. The specified tasks do sound respectable, such as 'ensuring high standards of quality and reliability of energy supply to consumers, ensuring energy security of the regions of the Russian Federation through the introduction of uniform principles of operational and technological management, and uniform requirements for technical and operational policy'.
'Ensuring energy security' under attack
The latest shelling from the territory of Ukraine is hitting life support facilities and production facilities of electrical networks and power supply in the border regions of the Kursk region. The Governor of the Kursk region regularly uploads photos of the damage to his telegram channel.
Roman Starovoit After the shelling in Tetkino village, several power lines were damaged and restored, including 10kV overhead line feeder 359, 0.4kV overhead line from TP-14 per. Krestyansky, VL 0.4 from TP-13 st. Komsomolskaya, VL 0.4 from TP-18 st. Kalinina, VL 0.4 from TP-11 st. Lenin, VL0.4 from TP-7 the territory of the distillery. Also, a new transformer TMG-11 with a power of 250 kW was pierced, and 2 new supports were destroyed. Seven double-glazed windows were broken. The estimated cost for restoring the damaged structures is about two million rubles..
In these extremely challenging conditions, the concept of “ensuring energy security” as stated in the “ultimatum” to the majority shareholders of Rosseti seems like a mockery of electricity consumers and even the authorities of the Kursk region. Due to constant non-payments by Rosseti Center PJSC, Kursk Electric Networks lacks the ability to stock sufficient consumables. The restoration of damaged facilities is being carried out in very tough conditions, with a lack of necessary equipment, logistics, and disrupted transport interactions. Furthermore, the funds received with significant delays are barely enough to pay wages to the employees.
As for the mentioned “consolidation of power grid assets” in the letter, Kommersant predicted six months ago that this would not end well, as monopolization would only lead to higher tariffs.
The authorities' refusal to acknowledge a problem.
It seems that Rosseti is attempting to create ongoing financial difficulties for Kursk Electric Networks in order to reduce the price for buying out shares from the majority shareholders. This is understandable, as it helps to portray the company as struggling and encourages shareholders to sell their shares for a lower price. This is a common tactic in such situations. There will likely be threats from fiscal and punitive authorities towards those who resist, as well as bribery of partners, due to the familiarity of these tactics.
What actions are the city and regional authorities taking in these conditions? Very little, if anything! Despite sending numerous letters to all relevant bodies, Kursk Electric Networks has not yet received any meaningful response. Power engineers require nothing extraordinary. If the authorities are hesitant to confront a large entity like Rosseti, they should consider urgently changing the tariff model and the settlement and contractual relationship scheme to ensure direct receipt of funds for electricity transmission services by Kursk Electric Networks from the guaranteeing supplier AtomEnergoSbyt. This falls within the jurisdiction of the governor and the regional government.
What are the authorities of the city and the region doing in these conditions? And nothing! Although “Kursk Electric Networks” have written a bunch of letters, which are available in the editorial office, to all instances, they have not yet received any more or less intelligible answer. Meanwhile, power engineers do not need anything supernatural. If the authorities are already afraid of quarreling with such a giant as Rosseti, it may be worth considering and resolving the issue of urgently changing the tariff model and the scheme of settlement and contractual relations, providing for the direct receipt by Kursk Electric Networks of funds for the electricity transmission service, directly from the guaranteeing supplier AtomEnergoSbyt. This is entirely within the competence of the governor and the regional government.
The authorities should think about one more thing, the author of “Version” believes Sergey Kokorin. In the period 2006-2022, the profit of Kursk Electric Networks was directed exclusively to the development of the enterprise, which did not cause any complaints from the shareholders. As a result, the depreciation rate of the power grid facilities of the city of Kursk decreased from 80% in 2006 to 40.04% this year. The amount of taxes paid to the regional budget of the Kursk region and the city of Kursk over the past three years is about 120 million rubles. annually, and the amount of tax payments to the federal budget is approaching half a billion rubles. If Rosseti becomes the owner of the Kursk Electric Networks, neither the regional government and its governor, nor the city authorities will be able to fully influence economic issues, including in terms of profit distribution that affects the pace of modernization of electrical networks, acceptance for service ownerless electric power facilities, providing material assistance to budgetary organizations of Kursk. Yes, and the amount of tax payments, of course, will decrease sharply. The sad experience of the negative consequences of the transfer of management of strategic housing and communal services to legal entities located in other subjects of the federation, which brings a constant “headache” to the authorities and residents of Kursk, already exists.
