Putin reportedly orders government to keep Russia’s electricity prices 20% lower than China’s

Vladimir Putin has instructed the government to ensure that electricity prices for consumers in Russia are 20 percent lower than in China when drafting the country’s long-term plan for the development of its power infrastructure, Kommersant reports.Putin issued the order after a meeting held as part of the EEF. Market participants do not know why China was chosen as the benchmark.Experts say China is one of the main competitors to Russia’s energy-intensive industries, and that Chinese companies pay some of the lowest electricity prices in the world, behind only Russia’s.The current general plan runs through 2042. It calls for building 88.5 gigawatts of new capacity and modernizing another 66.4 gigawatts, at a cost of about 40 trillion rubles. Building trunk power lines and distribution networks will require roughly 17 trillion rubles more.New capacity in Russia is being built using targeted surcharges on the wholesale energy market, which raise final prices for consumers. The Energy Ministry estimates that if this scheme continues, the final price of electricity could rise from 6.4 rubles per kilowatt-hour in 2024 to 12.8 rubles per kilowatt-hour by 2042.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.