Moscow, 17 January 2006. Chairman of the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia" Anatoly Chubais today chaired a meeting of the Emergency Management Center held to coordinate the measures taken by Moscow's energy companies as a response to the abnormally cold weather.

The severe frosts that hit the Moscow region had no effect on the reliability of the energy system. Moscow's energy facilities worked without failures, outages or restriction of power supply to customers during the evening (16 January) and morning (17 January) energy consumption peaks.

Owing to the well-coordinated advance measures, all power plants, grid and dispatching facilities in the Moscow energy system maintained stable operation. Pyotr Aksyonov, Head of the Moscow Municipal Services Directorate and First Deputy Mayor of Moscow, said that in order to prevent damage to the underground power and heating networks, a ban was imposed on excavation and drilling works during the period of low temperatures.

The meeting discussed a list of enterprises to which power supply may be temporarily restricted, if the temperatures continue to fall, in order to prevent the capacity deficit during the morning and evening power consumption peaks. Supply of power to such consumers will be reduced to the lowest possible level of consumption required for the consumer to safely complete a technological process, with advance notice given to each such consumer. These coercive measures, taken pursuant to Resolution of the Russian Government* No. 664 of 1999, are designed to prevent power outages. It was emphasized that temporary restrictions of power supply to industrial facilities during energy consumption peaks were necessary to ensure stable power supply to households, medical institutions, the city's vital infrastructure, and buildings of state authorities and security agencies. The Emergency Management Center also discussed possible extra forms for interaction among the energy companies, Moscow authorities and the Ministry of Emergencies during the spell of unusually severe frost.

As ordered by the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia" Anatoly Chubais, the Emergency Management Center was formed out of the senior executives of Moscow Generation Company, Moscow City Grid Company and Moscow Region Grid Company, heads of the Moscow Region's energy dispatching units, as well as officers of the RAO UESR administrative staff. As agreed, Head of the Moscow Municipal Services Directorate, First Deputy Mayor of Moscow, Head of the Main Directorate of Russia's Ministry of Emergencies for the city of Moscow Alexander Yeliseyev.

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* Pursuant to Resolution of the Russian Government No. 664 of 22 June 1999, the energy companies submitted for approval of the Fuel and Energy Department of the Moscow City and Moscow Region a list of consumers to which electricity supply would be reduced in a period of peak load in the energy system caused by prolonged abnormally low temperatures. Such consumers primarily include auxiliary facilities of industrial enterprises. The following consumers were not included in such list: social infrastructure, buildings and facilities of state authorities, medical institutions, military units, facilities of the Ministry of the Interior, Federal Security Service, nuclear centers, underground railways, etc.