Sverdlovsk Region Minister for Industry, Power Engineering, and Science Vladimir Molchanov presented his report on the agreement signed by Sverdlovsk Region and RAO UES of Russia at a meeting chaired by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel. The meeting was attended by Chairman of RAO UES of Russia Anatoly Chubais.

According to Mr. Molchanov, the region consumed 48.6 billion kilowatts per hour last year. This year, the consumption has preliminarily been estimated to come to 25.2 billion kilowatts per hour in January to June, with the peak summer consumption figures reaching 5,000 megawatts. In the meantime, Sverdlovsk Region’s industrial growth in 2006 exceeded the figures for 2005 by 6.9%, which is better than the Russian average.

'Our metallurgical industry is ready to develop rapidly and build on capacity so as to raise the regional steel, copper, and aluminum output by 2, 1.4, and 2 times, respectively, in eight years’ time,’ Mr. Molchanov observed. He believes, though, that the state of the region’s power industry has been hindering its economic development, which can be proved by the increase in the number of electricity consumption applications SverdlovEnergoSbyt (the regional power supplier) has had to reject recently. The Urals and Volga Interregional Network Company reports 913 consumers with the total load of 1,485 megawatts have been rejected by July 2, 2007.