IES-Holding proposed to the Perm mayor's office to merge network assets

IES-Holding may gain control of another utility sector in Perm: the company has proposed to the administration to merge heating network assets. Now the city leases about 100 km of heating networks to private companies, and also manages their maintenance through the MUZHREP Motorostroitel. Some experts believe that this will bring benefits to the city, others believe that the municipality will finally lose the opportunity to influence the process of heat supply to the city.

The largest heat producer in Perm, TGK-9, is negotiating with the city authorities to merge network assets. According to a source in the mayor's office, the other day a corresponding proposal was voiced to the city leadership by the director of the Perm branch, Sergei Boguslavsky. According to it, it is proposed to create a united network management company. This legal entity will manage the networks of both TGC-9 itself and the Perm Grid Company (PSK, part of TGC-9). Presumably, the city will lease its heating assets to the united grid company: municipal networks leased from Permgazenergoservice LLC and InvestStroyTsentr LLC (now the municipality is terminating the lease agreement with them), and in the future - heating networks operated by MUZHREP Motorostroitel "(Sverdlovsk district of Perm). According to Kommersant, TGK-9 plans to manage the city’s municipal networks.

“As a result of consolidation, the tariff for heat transport will be averaged, all residents of Perm will pay the same price for this service. This is being done within the framework of a unified heat supply scheme for the city,” the official said. He recalled that in Perm there is already an average tariff for the sale of thermal energy: PSK, which performs the functions of a single heat sales company in Perm, purchases thermal energy from manufacturers at different costs, and sells it to the population and management companies at a single average tariff.

Yesterday, the Perm branch of TGC-9 was unable to comment on Kommersant’s information.

Until 2007, the Perm administration controlled most of the city’s heating network, managed by the Permgorkommunteplo municipal unitary enterprise. During the bankruptcy of the municipal unitary enterprise, the property complex went to PSK, which was controlled by the largest producer of thermal energy in Perm - TGK-9 IES-Holding. Now IES-Holding, according to various estimates, controls more than 70% of the thermal energy market and more than half of heat transport.

According to TGK-9, the company, together with PSK, owns 545 km of trunk networks in Perm; 298 central heating stations and 717 km of neighborhood networks. Permgazenergoservice leases 99 km of heating networks, and Motorostroitel owns about 40 km of heating networks.

Perm City Duma deputy Alexander Kolbin believes that “property in the same hands is always better than that of different owners”: “There is no competition in this area, so unification is advisable.” Legislative Assembly deputy Alexey Lukanin, on the contrary, believes that “it’s wise not to put your eggs in one basket”: “You need to maintain your own specialized municipal unitary enterprise. Today, the main heat producer has control over its transport, but show me the monopolist who is interested in reducing costs.”

The manager of the Teplo-M boiler house, Sergei Semchenko, believes that if the municipality is a co-founder of the united management company, this will be a plus for the city’s heat supply. “Today the authorities must return to managing their thermal assets. Otherwise, it will lose all control over the industry.” According to the power engineer, by controlling heating networks, the Perm administration could purchase heat from efficient thermal power plants and thereby reduce costs for the end consumer.

Deputy director of the department of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation and former minister of the regional city, Alexei Khrapkov, believes that the consolidation of heating network assets should be considered in a unified heat supply scheme for Perm. Let us recall that such a scheme was developed by the PSK this summer and sent by the administration for approval to the Ministry of Energy. “There must be technical efficiency and public benefit to the municipality,” the official concluded.

“The consolidation of the network space will lead to its final isolation from the public. Only officials of the regional tariff service will know the true state of affairs in the field of heat transport,” says an informed source in the Perm heat supply market.

Vyacheslav Sukhanov

The network is such a thing