The State Duma Committee on Energy is holding a round table on the topic: “Modernization of power generation facilities: sources of financing. The State Duma Committee on Energy proposes to reform the procedure for installing metering devices

Zavalny

Nikolaevich

Chairman of the Energy Committee State Duma

Dear Colleagues!

First of all, the Energy Committee positively assesses the results of the work of the country’s fuel and energy complex in the sixteenth year and in general in the areas that was from the minister’s report, all sectors continued their sustainable development and at the same time provided the internal need for all types of energy. Export of budget revenues, including foreign exchange earnings, an increase in revenues already in the first quarter, the effectiveness of interaction between the Energy Committee and the Ministry of Energy is one of the most important conditions high-quality legislative support for the development of the fuel and energy complex. The Energy Committee is a government platform for dialogue between the executive branch and the rest of the community. Moreover, colleagues, it is the Energy Committee that represents the professional interests of energy in the State Duma. At the same time, all members of the committee, deputies, represent the interests of voters, consumers of this energy in the new convocation of the State Duma. The Committee did everything to improve the quality and organization of work at such a site. Firstly, the quantitative high-quality composition committee, and today it includes deputies with professional experience in various sectors of the fuel and energy complex. At the same time, I must say, colleagues, you probably know this, the composition of the State Duma as a whole has changed by 60 percent, 50 percent are single-mandate, that is, it has increased qualitatively, and in our committee it has been updated quantitatively - today there are 18, and there were 14 and 80 percent renewal in specialist deputies. Many specialists from the fuel and energy complex - professional people, so the composition of the committee is very strong. And we have re-formed the expert council, a total of 23 sections have been formed in literally all areas of the fuel and energy complex, and each of the deputies is now responsible for one or more areas of its work. The sections included professional experts, representatives of federal authorities, companies, scientific community public organizations total more than 400 people. We intend to supplement the practice of discussing the entry into law of drafts, within the framework of round tables and parliamentary hearings, and the work of expert councils. I am sure that this will improve the quality and efficiency of our collaboration. Colleagues, we must see perspective in every law and hope to strengthen expert work, including with the participation of business. As for the actual lawmaking, in 2016 the committee contributed to the adoption of ideas and projects, two of which related to the electric power industry, nuclear safety, one each to heat supply and energy supply. The most important area of ​​work remains thermal power engineering, heat supply: this is the most complex industry. The government draft federal law developing the target model of the centralized heat supply market is under discussion. I want to say thank you to Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Kravchenko, who takes part in all events related to discussions of this draft law, and today we have reached the second reading stage. I hope that we will take part in the second reading in April, and I have an inner conviction that this will happen.

I am confident that through joint efforts we will be able to remove the main risks that confuse deputies, representatives of companies and regions. First of all, this is the risk of an unreasonable increase in the cost of heat, the risk of using the monopoly position of the country and unified heat supply organizations while strengthening their role, the risk of a possible decrease in the quality and reliability of supply to territories with a decrease in state municipal control in this area. I am confident that the adoption of the law will ultimately provide such an adjustment to the raw material model of the heat market and balancing of the heat and electricity market so that this type of activity is competitive, economically justified and accessible to consumers, including at prices, and ensures reliable, safe heat supply .

Here is another proposal from our committee. This type of activity, the work of the ETO, must be licensed, so that the ETO receives a license, so that there is state operational control over its work. I think this will strengthen state control over the work of the ETO. Just as we once strengthened control over the work of management companies, we will now strengthen control over energy sales companies.

As for the electric power industry as a whole, our main task is to actually complete the reform of the electric power industry, primarily in the interests of the consumer. This is possible only through the development of competition in all directions: between centralized energy supply and distributed energy, between types of heat energy generation, between manufacturers, between network companies, where possible by sales companies. You know my position regarding the past reform of the industry. It was carried out without a focus on consumers. Its goals were to modernize the energy sector, increase investment, and increase the profitability of the industry as such. The parliamentary hearings that we held just three days ago only strengthened me in this understanding.

I believe that the market model that we created as a result of the reform, and according to which the electric power industry now operates, is still far from perfect. She has an internal incentive to increase her own effectiveness. There is a separate topic of determining the acceptable level of reduction in the volume of cross-subsidies. Without this work, it is impossible to develop a perfect market model of energy in the future. Today market share at wholesale 25%, at retail a little more than 50%. The volume of all kinds of loads on the wholesale market is increasing. And of course, we need to set the task of limiting this overload, otherwise we will simply have to forget about market relations in the energy sector.

Alexander Valentinovich said in his report that over this work in progress, and this is good.

In fact, today the market is under manual control, while more than half of the bills considered by the Committee concern the electricity sector. The laws that come to us from the Government solve important but local problems. I would like to see strategic approach target economic model promising development of the industry, development of market relations, competition, system solution issues of increasing availability and quality, security of supplies in the interests, first of all, of the consumer. And of course we support the proposal of the Ministry of Energy to develop retail markets. And, colleagues, on the issue of licensing, yesterday the State Duma adopted a law in the first reading on licensing sales activities. Only the party voted United Russia. Opposition parties did not support it. Because the very fact of their licensing does not correspond to this type of activity, there is only one reason. At the same time, my position is that this must be done, because this will help us in the development of the retail electricity market. So that there are no unscrupulous participants in this market. This is a very sensitive topic.

IN oil industry The main challenge remains the deterioration of the inventory structure. Their main task is to participate in ensuring the development of the industry, ensuring stable production, in my opinion, is to improve the conditions for subsoil use in terms of effective taxation of oil production, development of programs state support oil refining, petrochemicals. We cannot do without this issue. If we take the structure of reserves and the structure of current production, we will see that the situation is only getting worse from year to year. And in the future, oil production will only increase.

In this regard, we are waiting for the appearance of government bills, both in connection with the improvement of the DPI, this was mentioned before, and the transition to the NFR and AIT. The Energy Committee is ready to join in accelerating work on the bill together with the relevant ministries and the Budget Committee. I also wanted to emphasize the importance of the development of modern domestic technologies, including oil production technologies, the development and adoption of regulations for the creation of test sites for their testing and processing. The Ministry of Natural Resources has prepared such a law. We are also expecting its introduction, and we should adopt it this year in order to launch these projects.

Strategic task oil and gas industry, in my opinion, is a paradigm shift from an export-oriented approach in favor of a more dynamic development of the domestic market, expanding the use of gas and deep processing. It is necessary to quickly outline the basic approaches and principles of forming the gas market. Finally, the adoption of the state concept of the internal gas market. This task is of particular importance due to the high pace of reform of the common internal gas market of the European-Asian economic union. We would not like other members of the EEC to write the rules for the development of the internal market to us, while the concept of development of the EEC market already exists, approved and adopted. But the main participants cannot agree among themselves on the concept of the internal gas market.

In the oil and gas industry as a whole, a number of problems arising in connection with the development of the continental shelf and, in particular, regarding the issues of ensuring the implementation of the sovereign plans of the Russian Federation on the continental shelf, require legislative regulation. The issue of artificial installations and structures located on the shelf. The issue of retreat into the country from artificial islands, installation of structures on the shelf. The corresponding bills are already in the Government. We developed them at the site of the Russian Gas Society and the Committee is ready to quickly begin working with them.

Equally important is the reduction of aggressive barriers to subsoil use and investment activities. The committee at the site of the Russian Gas Society, together with leading companies, has prepared a number of bills. I would like the support of the Ministry of Energy in coordinating them with the Ministry of Natural Resources within the framework of the interdepartmental commission and making appropriate changes to the legislation. This is becoming especially relevant against the backdrop of tightening environmental requirements in the oil and gas industry. We push the laws back and forth twice. Please support, Alexander Valentinovich, in their joint promotion and protection.

Colleagues, the topic of generally tightening environmental requirements in the fuel and energy complex, the requirement to switch to the best available technologies in connection with the entry into force of a number of relevant federal laws, in principle, causes some concern for the industry community. The modernization of the entire production required in this regard will require very large investments. Is the fuel and energy complex ready for this and will this entail an increase in energy tariffs?

Colleagues, from the first of January next year we will have to do this; we plan to hold round table dedicated to this topic. And the topic is serious, because these are requirements for tightening legislation, the transition to income tax, and the best available technologies. It will result in an increase in tariffs, especially in coal generation and not only.

For the coal industry, the main problem continues to be the decline in demand in the coal market. First of all, due to the decline in coal generation and the displacement of gas generation. And here, as we see, the situation has not changed over the year better side. This reduces the profitability of the industry and negatively affects the social situation in coal-mining regions and industrial safety. Exports and coal prices on world markets help. This situation is a direct consequence of the underdevelopment of inter-fuel competition in the country, and the sometimes unjustified imbalance of the fuel and energy balance towards natural gas. Accordingly, changes in approaches to the formation of TEP and inter-fuel competition are necessary, which in turn will lead to optimization of the fuel and energy balance. We have been talking about this for many years, “but things are still there.” Underestimating the role of the TEP as a policy document is a static error, but sometimes the security of the country depends on it. I am deeply convinced that the definition of strategic objectives for the role of the fuel and energy complex for the entire economy, by definition, must begin to be formed from the current future fuel and energy balance, which ensures the national structure of energy production and consumption due to the structures of the economy and the regional aspect.

If previously the TEP was the main document when adopting the Energy Strategy, now it is a reference document. Colleagues, this is not true.

Even 10 years ago, at the next convocation, the State Duma Committee on Energy and Transport Relations, which considered the problem of TEP within the framework of parliamentary hearings, recommended that the Russian Government develop a bill that would regulate the issues of drawing up and applying current perspective balances. It seems to me that there was a sound grain in this proposal. Today it may be advisable to resolve this issue with the help of government regulations as part of the legal framework within the framework of the implementation of the federal law on strategic planning in Russian Federation. But the development of the current future fuel energy balance as a single document is simply necessary. Both federal in sectors of the economy and regional.

In my opinion, the strategic issue includes the issue of increasing energy efficiency and energy saving. Unfortunately, little has been said about this today. This determines the competitiveness of our economy in the context of its integration into the world, as well as the solution of environmental problems, the reduction of harmful emissions, including within the framework of the implementation of the Paris agreements. We voluntarily joined this. Colleagues, on gross emissions harmful substances We are in fifth place in the world, and in terms of units per capita we are in third place in the world. It's too much.

We see from Alexander Valentinovich’s report that work is being done, but we would like this work to become more intensified. The energy saving potential of primary energy resources in the country as a whole is estimated at more than 30%. If we take the same gas industry, the energy balance is 52%, the energy saving potential is 180-200 billion cubic meters. This is comparable to exports. This is larger than any of the largest fields, polar and newly introduced. We are burning down an entire field due to inefficiency.

Realizing potential savings requires a more active continuation of the system for organizing consumption and accounting of energy resources, increasing payment discipline and a strict system of incentives and fines in the energy efficiency system. Colleagues, here’s a side note oil gas We set the bar at 95%, set deadlines, and whoever doesn’t achieve it pays a fine. These fines were built into the economy and today they are already 93-95% and higher. The same is necessary for any type of energy resource. If you spend inefficiently - there are the best available technologies - pay a fine or an increased price. Here, for example, is the gas used in the boiler room. Boiler room VD 18. Efficiency 60%. There are boiler houses with an efficiency of 90%. If you operate a boiler room, they gave you a period of three years to replace the boiler room, if you don’t change it, please pay 1.5 times more for gas. This will stimulate. And then we will very quickly, within 50 years, achieve the energy strategy targets. We formed our proposals in a round table format, they are all there, you can read them in free access.

In conclusion, I would like to mention the importance of approving Russia’s energy strategy until 2035, even in the light of comments to it, and, unfortunately, there are comments to it. Because the lack of officially formulated goals sharply slows down the development of the fuel and energy complex.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the Ministry for constructive interaction with the Committee over the past year and express confidence that we will continue to cooperate no less effectively.

Thank you for your attention.

The event will take place February 19, 2018, at 11.00, hall No. 830 (Georgievsky lane, 2).

The list of speakers includes the Deputy Minister of Energy Vyacheslav Kravchenko, Head of the Electric Power Industry Regulation Department of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia Dmitry Vasiliev, Deputy Director of the Department of the Ministry of Economic Development Andrey Gabov, Chairman of the Board of the Association “NP Market Council” Maxim Bystrov, CEO JSC FORTUM Alexander Chuvaev, Chairman of the Board - General Director of PJSC RusHydro Nikolay Shulginov, representatives of the expert community.

The subject of discussion at the round table will be a program to attract investment in the modernization of Russian generation. Today, the average equipment return in the industry is 34 years, with more than 30% of equipment over 45 years old.

In November 2017, following a meeting with the President of the Russian Federation, it was generally approved new program modernization based on CSA (capacity supply agreements), known as CSA-stroke. The first CSA program, launched during the electricity reform, made it possible to upgrade about 15% of the total installed power generation capacity in the country. Currently, CSA projects have largely been completed or are nearing completion. The amount of funds released in current tariffs from 2021 is estimated by the Ministry of Energy at 130-250 billion rubles. per year, or about 1.5 trillion rubles. by 2030 It is proposed to use these funds to modernize about 40 GW of installed capacity with an emphasis on thermal generation.

At the same time, a number of industry representatives and experts express concerns that such a program will not bring new technologies or increased efficiency to the electric power industry, and will reduce interest in high-tech investments in generation.

Also under discussion is the approach itself, in which the modernization of generating capacities will actually be paid not by energy companies, but, again, by industrial consumers, despite the fact that the generating complex has sufficient resources to update capacity within the framework of existing market mechanisms and significant potential for increasing its own efficiency.

In addition, certain discussions are also taking place around the volume of capacity that the electric power industry needs to meet the demand for heat and electricity in the medium term, taking into account the excess capacity available today and the significant potential for the development of distributed energy.

The key condition for launching the program for modernizing generation facilities under the DPM-stroke scheme, set by the President of the Russian Federation, is the non-increase in consumer payments above inflation, which also seems to be a difficult task for experts and industry participants.

The result of the discussion of the above and other problematic issues of attracting investment in the modernization of power generation facilities within the framework of the round table will be the recommendations of the Energy Committee to the relevant government bodies.

Russians will no longer have to install meters for gas, water and electricity at their own expense. A proposal to shift this responsibility from residents to suppliers was made by the State Duma committees on natural resources and economic policy. Corresponding amendments to the Housing Code may be considered as early as November. Now about 30% of residents who do not have metering devices are required to pay an increased tariff. With the adoption of the amendments, they will be exempt from such expenses until their apartments are equipped with metering devices. The Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Energy conceptually support the initiative of the deputies.

Now the consumer actually has no obligation to install meters for heat, light and gas. Moreover, if the device is missing, the citizen pays a premium. Since July 1 last year, it has been set at 50% of the base tariff.

This is unfair to the consumer, believes a group of State Duma deputies led by the first deputy chairman of the committee on natural resources, property and land relations Yuri Afonin and the deputy chairman of the committee on economic policy, innovative development and entrepreneurship Nikolay Arefiev. They prepared amendments to the Housing Code (Part 1 of Article 157) and the Federal Law “On Energy Saving...” (“Izvestia” got acquainted with the document). These proposals are also supported by the head of the relevant State Duma energy committee, Pavel Zavalny.

The proposed amendments will save residents money not only on installation, but also on paying for housing and communal services. According to the Law “On Energy Saving...”, since 2014, an increasing coefficient has been introduced to the tariff for services for Russians who do not have meters. From January 1, 2015 it was 1.1, but from July 1, 2016 it was already 1.5. According to the proposals of the deputies, the increasing coefficient will not be applied until the consumer himself refuses to install the equipment at the expense of the supplier. According to the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Public Utilities, about 70% of the country's households now have meters.

“This bill imposes the obligation to install, monitor and replace metering devices on organizations providing public utilities. This is in accordance with the canons market economy, the metering devices are installed by those who are interested in this,” the deputies noted in the explanatory note.

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Irina Yarovaya spoke at a meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Legislators on October 31 with a similar initiative. During the discussion of the issue, her proposal was supported by representatives of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and the Ministry of Construction.

The Ministry of Energy also spoke in favor of transferring responsibility for meters to suppliers. This will give impetus to the development of smart metering of electrical energy throughout the country, the department’s press service told Izvestia.

When implementing smart electricity metering, the main benefits for energy companies will be a reduction in theft, a reduction in costs and the formation of a transparent mechanism for interaction between networks and energy sales organizations. The consumer will not have to transmit meter readings every month; this will be done automatically,” the department noted. - By replacing old devices with new ones within 15 years, we will be able to completely renew the fleet of metering devices.

Energy workers, however, do not agree to move so quickly to a new work model. The amendments will require the inclusion of costs for meters in the tariff, which, in turn, will lead to cross-subsidization: residents who have already installed meters will pay for those who are yet to do so, noted the press service of a large supplier of heat and electricity, Quadra. In addition, it is not clear what should be considered a refusal of the owner to allow installation of metering devices, the company added.

Metering devices require special conditions for installation and normal operation, which only the owner can provide. If the device fails, it is unclear who will be responsible for it, says a representative of the generating company Fortum.

It is necessary to move step by step, starting with the transfer of common house metering devices to resource-supplying organizations, and only then move on to individual ones, and with the parallel installation of smart metering systems, says a representative of the T Plus company.

Representatives of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz and Enel Russia, as well as the FAS, declined to comment.

The Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services is not yet familiar with the amendments, but supports the transition to installing accounting systems at the expense of suppliers. These should be modern meters equipped with online transmission of information directly to the supplier, deputy head of the department Andrei Chibis told Izvestia. He also noted that by simply “shifting the installation of individual metering devices to resource supply companies, we will not make the system more transparent and efficient, whereas online metering systems with remote data transfer are capable of this.”

By shifting the responsibility for equipping apartments with metering devices to suppliers, the state will solve another problem. Often, third-party organizations deceive residents by offering to reinstall supposedly outdated meters. For example, in Moscow, citizens receive monthly dire warnings about reinstalling water meters, although their service life is far from expired, deputies indicate in their initiative. This often becomes the cause of litigation between residents and resource supply companies, confirmed Vladimir Starinsky, managing partner of the Starinsky, Korchago and Partners bar association.

According to him, from a legal point of view there are no obstacles to making the installation of meters the responsibility of resource suppliers. In addition, this will significantly increase the growth rate of the share of houses equipped with meters - installation of equipment will be in the interests of the supplier, the expert believes.

If the increasing coefficient for residents who do not have meters is cancelled, the payment will decrease by 30–40%, predicts Dmitry Kumanovsky, head of the analytical department of the investment company LMS.

According to the head of the relevant State Duma energy committee, Pavel Zavalny, the amendments can be adopted simultaneously with other amendments, thanks to which suppliers will themselves collect fees for housing and communal services, bypassing management companies. As Izvestia wrote, the Ministry of Construction is currently working on a corresponding initiative.
November 10, 2017, Arseniy Poghosyan,
"News",

Zavalny

Nikolaevich

Chairman of the Energy Committee of the State Duma

First of all, I am glad to have the opportunity to speak at such a significant event in a relatively new status. I head the committee a little less than a year, I think effective interaction with the Ministry of Energy is one of the most important conditions for quality legislative activity.

In my opinion, the Energy Committee can and should act as a state platform for dialogue between the executive branch and the industry community, expert discussion of legislative initiatives, problems of the fuel and energy complex and the solutions necessary to overcome them.

As for the results of 2015, the permanent Committee on Energy, the fuel and energy complex as a whole demonstrated effective work and sustainable development, as evidenced by the indicators in the above report by Alexander Valentinovich. And most importantly, the positive dynamics of their changes.

In terms of legislative support for energy, in 2015 the Energy Committee reviewed 21 bills, of which two, introduced by the Russian Government, were adopted by the State Duma. The first was aimed at strengthening the payment discipline of resource consumers, as was mentioned. Work on it took more than a year and a half. The final version of the law talks about strengthening payment discipline for all types of consumed resources, and contains mechanisms aimed at ending the resulting debt. I am confident that the entry into force of this law and the practice of its application will significantly improve payment discipline in the field of energy consumption, which will have a positive impact on the reliability of the work of fuel and energy and housing and communal services organizations. Well, there will be practice of application, if necessary we will adjust and improve it.

The second government bill adopted in 2015 amending the federal law on the electric power industry in terms of establishing payment rates for technological connection to electrical networks. In my opinion, it has significantly improved the conditions of access to electricity for consumers, and these results are already visible.

The Committee has established the practice of holding public events in key areas of the Committee’s work with the participation of representatives of the federal authorities of the Russian Federation and the authorities of the constituent entities, as well as representatives of energy companies, discussing key bills as they pass through the State Duma.

In 2015, we held 10 such extended meetings and 8 round tables related to regulatory support for the development of all energy sectors. The Committee's work plans for the spring session include 32 bills, of which 7 are government bills. Today, 10 have been reviewed, 2 have been accepted, one of them is government, the rest are being worked on.

Our task is to try to consider the majority of bills during the spring session, so as not to leave them to the next convocation of the State Duma.

Next, I would like to briefly dwell on the main problematic issues associated with the development of certain sectors of the fuel and energy sector and our vision of ways to overcome them, including by improving legislation.

Two thirds of the bills considered by the Committee concern the electricity sector. This primarily indicates that the reform of the industry, which has already been formally completed, in essence continues, and a number of issues still need to be resolved. These include problems of improving the operation of the wholesale electricity market, insufficient development of retail electricity markets and distributed energy, availability of electricity, reliability and quality of electricity supplies. And also the problem of cross-subsidization between various categories consumers.

Suffice it to say, colleagues, that Agriculture receives electricity 30-40% higher than other consumers, industrial consumers, and at the same time the network component is about 70%. Agricultural producers are the ones who feed us. I think this does not do power engineers any credit.

There remain problems with the development of the network complex and the high share of the network component in the tariff for the end consumer. Improvement of energy resource accounting issues is required. And our proposal, colleagues, the proposal of the Energy Committee, is that responsibility for the installation, operation and verification of energy meters be the responsibility of the supplier, and the consumer only has the right to install these meters. And we gave these recommendations from the round table on this problem.

Technological and commercial losses require reduction, and payment discipline is still insufficient. Also (this was said) reform and increased efficiency of heat supply, especially in generation, is required.

The Minister outlined the main ways to overcome problems in his speech; I will not dwell on them in detail. I will only note that, in my opinion, our main task, nevertheless, is to actually complete the reform of the electric power and heat supply industries, and primarily in the interests of the consumer. the main objective– meeting effective demand for electrical and thermal energy while ensuring the quality of this energy, security of supply, affordability and energy infrastructure. Its achievement, in my deep conviction, is possible only through the development of competition in all directions: between centralized energy supply and distributed energy, between types of electricity and heat generation, between manufacturers, between network organizations, where possible, and sales companies. Directive methods we will not achieve this goal.

In the oil industry, despite the high production indicators demonstrated last year, there is a risk of a decline in production, and already in the medium term. The main challenge facing the industry today is, in my opinion, the deterioration of the structure of reserves and also overcoming technological backwardness, increasing the oil recovery factor to the world level.

In order for the oil and gas complex to continue to play the role of more than just a support Russian economy, today it is necessary to take measures aimed at intensifying and increasing the economic profitability of oil and gas production. These measures lie in the area of ​​taxation and in the development of domestic technologies.

First, it is necessary to improve the current taxation systems. Further diversification of mineral extraction tax in terms of not just individual fields, but, perhaps, even wells. At the on-site round table of the Committee on Legislative Support for the Development of the Oil and Gas Complex, which we held three days ago in Khanty-Mansiysk, specific proposals were made on this topic, and they will be included in the committee’s recommendations and sent to the Ministry of Energy and other relevant authorities.

Secondly, it is necessary to quickly introduce progressive tax mechanisms for financial result allowing the sharing of risks in field development between the investor and the state. The bill on the transition to the NFR, introduced by Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug Ugra has been under consideration in the State Duma since October last year. The Energy Committee is a co-executor on it. In addition, as a deputy from Ugra, I have been appointed responsible for its consideration.

Most likely, the bill will undergo changes, and the result will be a convergence of approaches proposed by Ugra and the Russian Ministry of Finance. These are not mutually exclusive, but complementary models. The Energy Committee is ready to join in accelerating work on the bill in order to reach at least its first reading before the end of the spring session. To do this, it is necessary to unite our efforts with relevant ministries.

Thirdly, it is necessary to develop modern domestic technologies and oil production technologies. This has been said. There is an urgent need to create appropriate test sites for their testing and testing. This requires appropriate regulatory support. There are such initiatives, including the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug, which is taking such an initiative in depleted fields, in fields with hard-to-recover oil reserves, to create such testing sites this year.

In the gas industry, the primary task, in my deep conviction, is the creation in Russia of a full-fledged domestic gas market that can be a reliable source of development for all its participants. On the one hand, the situation on the global energy market is pushing us towards this. On the other hand, the contradictions between the actual development of the industry and the established legal and institutional foundations for its functioning not only prevent the sustainable development of the industry itself, but also create dangerous imbalances in the economy.

It is impossible to eliminate them without changing the configuration of the domestic gas market, optimizing it, changing the pricing system, and developing, first of all, inter-fuel competition.

I never tire of talking about the need to make decisions in this area as quickly as possible. And we need to start with developing the concept of the internal gas market, its target model. Moreover, we must start not from production, the possibility of which today far exceeds the need from current and future consumption. If you saw that slide, the only slide that raises questions, today the level of consumption and production is 635 billion cubic meters, and in 2015 there was a decrease in gas production of 1%, which means that there was a decrease in demand overall by 1%. At the same time, in 2020 we must produce 723 billion cubic meters, that is, plus 88 billion, that is, plus 17.5 billion; every year, an increase in production means an increase in demand. To be honest, I don’t see such demand. Well, maybe export to Western Europe, there will be a slight increase in demand, but it is unlikely on the domestic market.

Therefore, incorrect targets and guidelines for the development of the gas industry were already set from the very beginning. Such a distortion.

The Energy Committee and the Russian Gas Society initiated work on a target model for attracting leading companies and scientific institutes. We hope for the active participation and support of the Ministry.

Today, in the oil and gas complex, the urgent task is to reduce administrative barriers to subsoil use that negatively affect the economics of projects. Various experts believe that administrative barriers can slow down economic development by almost 20%.

Solving the problem requires coordinated work of all branches and levels of government. Under the State Duma Committee on Energy, together with the Russian Gas Society, there is a working group to reduce administrative barriers in the field of subsoil use. Its members include representatives of leading oil and gas producing companies; they have prepared consolidated proposals to amend the regulations governing relations in the field of subsoil use. Some of their proposals have already been implemented; others are currently being coordinated with executive authorities. And the risks there are very high.

Suffice it to say that today all oil and gas production facilities are classified in the first category of industrial safety. This leads to many problems. Issues of forest cadastral registration, waste disposal issues that have not yet been resolved. This all increases the risks of subsoil use and will affect the effective operation of our companies.

For the coal industry, the main problem is related to the decrease in demand for coal in the domestic market, and this was stated primarily due to the falling share of coal generation and its displacement in gas generation. This reduces the profitability of the industry and also has a negative impact on industrial safety, because Industrial Safety– is an economic category, and in conditions of a shortage of funds it always suffers. This is one of those very dangerous distortions in the economy generated by the lowest regulated prices in the world, wholesale gas prices, which I spoke about above. To remove it, it is necessary to develop inter-fuel competition, which in turn will lead to a correction of the fuel and energy balance. You know, it is skewed towards gas, 52%. If previous (...) strategies assumed a reduction in the share of gas in the energy balance, then the latest project does not even talk about this. But the worst thing is that during development, when considering the project (...) there was not even an analysis of what could and should be done to reduce this imbalance.

The nuclear industry demonstrates not only sustainable development, but real technological breakthroughs, the main one of which is the power launch of the new generation BN-800 reactor. Work is being carried out effectively to strengthen nuclear and radiation safety, including in terms of regulatory support, and relevant laws are being adopted. The last one was adopted less than a month ago.

But in terms of the economics of the industry, in my opinion, there are problems that need to be solved. First of all, this is a reduction in the cost of constructing new units, the share of budget funds allocated for this, and an increase in the real competitiveness of nuclear generation in the domestic market.

It is necessary, in principle, to clearly answer the question regarding the optimal relationship between thermal and coal and gas generation, nuclear and hydro generation, its role and place, taking into account the cost of electricity production. And this answer should be contained in the documents strategic planning, primarily in the Energy Strategy 2035. In my opinion, there are distortions in the existing project.

I would classify the issues of energy saving and energy efficiency as critical. This has been said. Well, the 2030 Strategy targets of reducing the energy intensity of GDP by 40% by 2020 are unlikely to be achieved. The goal of Strategy 2035 is 1.4-1.6 times, despite the fact that, according to experts, a twofold reduction is necessary.

Total energy consumption exceeds 1 billion tons standard fuel. At the same time, the fuel and energy complex itself consumes a third of this volume and has (...) savings of at least 20%. (...) savings of primary resources in the country as a whole remain more than 30%. However, its implementation requires state will and support, a strict system of incentives and fines, the same as APG utilization, and clear coordination of all energy saving measures, including between industries and constituent entities of the Federation. This requires appropriate solutions in the regulatory sphere. In my opinion, Lately This topic is not given enough attention, and the budget quotes for 2016, in the energy saving and energy development program, even the small money that was allocated for these programs is sequestered.

I would like to express my gratitude to the Ministry of Energy for initiating a public, broad expert discussion of the Energy Strategy 2035 project, in which the Energy Committee also took an active part. In preparation for the consideration of the energy strategy in the Government, the Committee sent its proposals for the project to the Minister of Energy and the supervising Deputy Prime Minister.

In conclusion, I would like to once again thank the Ministry for constructive interaction with the Committee and the State Duma over the past year, and express confidence that this year we will also cooperate no less effectively. Thank you for your attention.