Moscow, 28 January 2006. There was a fire at a voltage transformer at 110 kV substation No. 16 of the North-West Transmission Grids, branch of OAO "Federal Grid Company" ("FGC"), at 2:24 pm today. By 4:00 pm the fire had been extinguished and the work was started to restore the power grid.

As a result of the fire, two 110 kV substations of OAO "Lenenergo" - Substation No. 165 located in Chapayev street and Substation No. 190 on the corner of Lesnoy avenue and Neyshlotsky side-street - went off line, which led to power outages in the Petrogradsky, Kalininsky, and Vyborgsky districts of St.-Petersburg.

The Emergency Response Center headed by Boris Vainzikher, member of the Management Board and Technical Director of RAO "UES of Russia", promptly organized efforts to restore power to the consumers affected by the outage. CEOs of all energy companies of the North-West of Russia, senior officials of the St.-Petersburg Government, and officers of the St.-Petersburg Directorate of the Ministry of Emergencies took part in the meeting of the Emergency Report Center. The focus of the efforts taken by the Center was on restoring power to the socially important facilities.

The Leningrad Regional Dispatch Administration (RDA) introduced a "high-risk mode" in the energy system, which means that the staff of all energy companies located in the North-West of Russia would be involved in the power restoration efforts. The "high-risk mode" imposes an obligation on the dispatching staff, in the event that the situation in the energy system becomes extremely complicated, to carry out organizational and technological measures aimed at increasing the power grid reliability The repair teams of FGC's North-West Transmission Grids branch are working round the clock to restore Substation No. 16.

Owing to the prompt and well-coordinated actions taken by the staff of OAO "Lenenergo", North-West Transmission Grids, Leningrad RDA, the power supply was restored within a short period. By 9:00 pm the voltage in the power grid was restored. Power to some consumers is supplied using temporary arrangements.