Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Vladimir Putin: Mr Basargin, since last autumn we have been working at problems related to the autumn and winter peak loads. Now that we have entered this period it is much colder than expected.
In addition to resolving issues linked with global warming, if it takes place, we should proceed from reality and respond to today's global cooling. This seems obvious.
Russia is a northern country. We have prepared for the cold season even better than many West European countries, but we still have problems. The number of accidents involving power transmission systems has increased over the past year. There are many problems both at the regional and municipal levels.
It goes without saying that the public's heat and electricity supply is primarily the responsibility of regions and municipalities. As we have discussed many times, we cannot do much from Moscow. Nevertheless we must follow up on everything that takes place in this country and provide timely support for municipalities and regions.
Generally, we have launched preparations for the heating season in time. We have accumulated the necessary reserves of fuel, including backup fuel. The operation of our overall power industry is virtually failsafe. However, we know that we have problems, and the best evidence of this is what is happening today in the well-known Steppe garrison and in some other places. I am referring not to military but strictly to civilian facilities.
By and large, numbers do not mean much for the people who are facing these problems. We must quickly and promptly react to any mishaps. Let's talk about this now.
Viktor Basargin: Mr Putin, as you have observed, we have prepared for the autumn and winter peak load in a timely manner. All regions have stocked up on reserve fuel and we have prepared all systems for autumn and fall operations by 99.9%.
Fulfilling your instructions, we have thoroughly prepared for the holidays and for what we call abnormally low temperatures. In the latter third of December we conducted two meetings to prepare for the holidays. We primarily discussed the 10 problematic regions whose representatives we had summoned on your instructions. On December 24 we held a conference call to deal with the peak loads.
Overall, this year we have been doing better than in the past. We have recorded only three emergencies and 17 accidents as compared to 29 last year and 49 in 2007. We have practically cut the accident rate in half.
However, the financial crisis has prevented us from fully funding the preparations for the cold season and so the number of systemic accidents in the operation of the housing and public utilities system is slightly higher than last year. We had 2,280 accidents in 2008 and 2,400 in 2009, which is an increase of 8%.
During the holidays (December 30-January 11) we had the same number of failures in the operation of the housing and public utilities system - seven accidents, one emergency and 17 mishaps.
Problematic regions are mostly Siberia, Trans-Baikal and the Irkutsk regions. There were failures in the Primorye Territory, the Amur Region and Yakutia. Regrettably, St Petersburg also had problems because of what you mentioned. I'm referring to the operation of our transmission systems.
The reasons behind most of these failures are mostly technical - wear and tear of heating systems.
The climate of the Island of Sakhalin also puts it in the same category. Disruptions in electricity supplies there were due to a cyclonic storm and snowfall. There was one case also in St Petersburg when low temperatures caused a shift in the ground, pulling the transmission system apart. In all other cases, it is simply wear and tear. The human factor also played a role.
There were four accidents, including a gas explosion and a short circuit, which resulted in human loss. We are working to prevent such accidents. They are not caused by abnormally low temperatures.
It was cold in many regions - below -20C practically all over Siberia, in the Urals and the Primorye Territory, but this year we were better prepared than last year. All the equipment was designed to work in abnormally low temperatures.
Obviously, a decrease was produced by the streamlined operation of emergency services and the regional governments.
Vladimir Putin: A decrease?
Viktor Basargin: A decrease in the overall number of accidents and emergencies. In addition, we have acquired entirely new emergency equipment - portable generators for energy and heat as backups in an accident.
On the whole, I think we have coped well with the first period of the autumn and winter peak loads. Credit for this goes to the government bodies and the operation of all our utility services.