Electricity sector in Russia

[2]: 11–2 The eight months of the provisional government laid the groundwork for a state-owned approach to electrification as part of their move towards a centrally planned economy.

Electrification was a key part of the Bolshevik political programme: Communism is Soviet government plus the electrification of the whole country.This led to the creation of the GOELRO plan (Russian: план ГОЭЛРО) as the first-ever Soviet plan for national economic recovery and development.

GOELRO is the transliteration of the Russian abbreviation for "State Commission for Electrification of Russia" (Государственная комиссия по электрификации России).

The Second World War stopped the electrification programs in the western Soviet Union and left severe damages on generating and transmission systems.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Unified Energy System of Russia RAO UES was founded as state-owned (50%) company.

Four energy companies - Novosibirskenergo, Tatenergo, Irkutskenergo and Bashenergo - managed to avoid incorporation into RAO UES.

[1] As a result of the reorganization, Inter RAO UES became a major generating company in Russia in the field of export and import of electric power.

The Ministry for Energy of Russia, concerned with price increases envisions a wholesale market under bi-lateral contracts between consumers and specific power plants.

[1] It unites production, supply, construction, maintenance and modernization of equipment for thermal, nuclear, hydraulic and gas turbine power plants.

As of 2012, the following big international energy equipment holdings were well established and have joint ventures or their own production facilities in Russia: General Electric, Siemens, Alstom, ABB, Skoda Power, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ansaldo Energia, and Areva.

[8] Additionally, some parts of Russia are completely isolated from the unified energy system, including Kamchatka, Magadan Oblast, Sakhalin Oblast, Chukotka and Taimyr Autonomous Okrug, the western and central parts of the Sakha Republic, as well as many remote settlements across the country.

The top producers were: 1) United States 21.5% 2) China 17.1% 3) Japan 5.3% 4) Russia 5.1% 5) India 4.1% 6) Canada 3.2% 7) Germany 3.1% 8) France 2.8% 9) Brazil 2.3% and 10) South Korea 2.2%.

[9] The IPS/UPS is a wide area synchronous transmission grid of some CIS countries with a common mode of operation and centralized supervisory control.

It has an installed generation capacity of 300 gigawatts, and produces 1,200 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year for its 280 million customers.