Generating companies of two price zones disagree on how much flow to take into account when selecting capacity / E. Razumny / Vedomosti

On Tuesday, the Supervisory Board of the NP "Market Council" will consider two options for changes to the rules for conducting competitive capacity selection (CCT) for 2017-2019, several sources close to the participants of the meeting told Vedomosti. The "System Operator" will begin collecting applications for participation in it on December 9.

The amendments concern changes in the rules for calculating the maximum power flow between the first price zone (the European part of Russia and the Urals) and the second (Siberia). The current value is 775 MW (not taken into account during the 2016 KOM). The power flow always goes from the first price zone to the second. During peak hours, it can reach 2 GW. The amount of the flow depends on the output of hydroelectric power plants in the second price zone. Taking into account the flow does not affect the amount of power taken, but it does affect the price.

In the first amendment, Mikhail Kuznetsov, a member of the supervisory board and CEO of the Siberian Generating Company, proposes calculating the maximum flow between price zones as an average value for the last year (December 2014 – January 2015). The value will decrease to 296 MW. Roman Nizhankovsky, Deputy CEO of T Plus, proposes making the calculation based on the size of the flow in December for the last three years. Then the maximum permissible flow will be 2198 MW.

With low load of hydroelectric power plants, the smaller the flow from the first price zone, the greater the capacity deficit in the second, writes Vladimir Demin, Evraz's energy director, to members of the Market Council's supervisory board (Vedomosti has a copy of the letter). The implementation of Kuznetsov's amendments could increase consumers' charges for capacity based on the results of the 2017-2019 CPC by 7.1 billion rubles per year, Demin calculated.

Siberian companies want to minimize the flow from the Urals, so as not to create unnecessary competition, not to reduce the cost, explains the director of the Energy Development Fund Sergey Pikin. And European ones want to have additional opportunities, since the competition is high and prices are falling, he notes. There is no deficit, but in the second, capacity is more expensive, says Renaissance Capital analyst Vladimir Sklyar. Therefore, the more the flow is taken into account in the KOM, the lower the price will be in the second price zone, explains Sklyar. The issue is being discussed, the participants have different interests, only a representative of the NP "Market Council" said.

Energy companies are looking for a way to raise prices