Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:  

Vladimir Putin: I'm listening, Mr Novikov.

Sergei Novikov: Mr Putin, I would like to report that based on the forecast of socio-economic development approved by the Russian Government, the Federal Tariff Service has imposed limits on the electricity and heating tariffs for the regions in the government-subsidized spheres, primarily for the public. Later on, the regions will make decisions on specific groups of consumers in line with the current legislation and budget parameters.

For our part, we will have to adopt decisions on other spheres of regulation, such as railroads, telecoms, the Post, and gas supplies.

Vladimir Putin: We should follow-up on that to prevent violations of limits in the regions.

Sergei Novikov: Absolutely. Furthermore, by the end of this month, we are planning to draft and adopt instructions on calculating fees for the integration of electric power stations into the mains of the Federal Grid Company. We believe that this will not only streamline legal relations in this sphere, I mean, clarify fee-calculation and rules of payment for this integration, but will also normalise investment into the development of the federal power grid, and construction of generating capacities.

Finally, I'd like to say that we will soon complete the elaboration of the model for calculating cross subsidy in the electric power industry. We believe that normalisation of this sphere, and preparation of budget-based proposals to eliminate cross subsidies will make it possible to establish clear and transparent relations between the suppliers and consumers of electricity. In our view, this will allow us to draft clear-cut rules for the development of the electric power industry. On the other hand, it will create understandable incentives for consumers to save energy, and will enhance energy efficiency.

In addition to that I would like to talk about some other subjects and report what has been done and what we are planning to do in this sphere.

Vladimir Putin: All right. Let's talk in more in more detail.