Power Politics

Electricity Sector Reforms in Post-Soviet Russia

Author(s): Susanne Wengle
Editor(s): Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 27
Pages: 6-10
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen
Publication Year: 2007

While efforts to exert greater state control over a number of sectors of the Russian economy have made headlines, the government is currently also proceeding with effective orts to privatize large parts of the electricity sector. Since the beginning of attempts to liberalize, effective opposition to these measures has changed: while in the 1990s, a variety of actors who reflected public concerns could negotiate the terms of reform, today influence is limited to a narrow elite of powerful insiders. Crucially, since about 2002 electricity sector liberalization has had the backing of President Putin and far-reaching reforms have been implemented. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen who emerges as the new owners of valuable power plants and if the plans to liberalize wholesale prices by 2011 will be realized in a post-Putin era.

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