Russia’s production of electricity for the current year will be 993.2 billion kilowatt-hours.

The Russian Federal Tariffs Service approved the plan for the electricity production and consumption balance for 2011. Under the new framework, the balance of production and consumption will increase 3.3 percent to reach 1.0264 trillion kilowatt-hours. 

Consumption of electricity in 2011 is expected to increase by 3.4 percent to reach 1.0113 trillion kilowatt-hours. Production will outpace consumption by 15.1 billion kilowatt-hours. While the balance of production and consumption has formally been approved, Russian officials think that the plan may be subject to revision on November 1, 2010.     

As of now, the largest growth in production will be in the hydroelectric sector, with expected increases of 9.5 percent in relation to the figures for 2009. Coal-firing and other thermal stations are projected to increase power generation by 2.3 percent, and nuclear plants by 1.8 percent. The anticipated figure for hydroelectric power is 166.5 billion kilowatt-hours, for thermal plants 687.7 billion kilowatt-hours, and for nuclear stations 172.2 billion kilowatt-hours.   

Thermal power-generating plants saw a considerable drop in productivity in 2009, when they produced only 652 billion kilowatts, some 8.2 percent less than in 2008. Hydropower accounted for 176 billion kilowatt-hours in 2009, representing an increase of 5.6 percent over the results of the previous year. Nuclear energy also witnessed small gains in 2009, ending at 164 billion kilowatt-hours, 0.3 percent above the 2008 figures.

According to the most current 2010 electricity balance chart, Russia’s production of electricity for the current year will be 993.2 billion kilowatt-hours. Consumption will be 977.7 billion kilowatt-hours, allowing for export capacity of 15.5 billion kilowatt-hours.

Russia’s Federal Tariffs Service calculates taxes and tariffs for various companies and commodities on the basis of the electricity balance plan. The plan takes into account the generation of power in Russia, as well as the losses sustained in transporting electricity through regional and national distribution networks.

In November 2009, the Federal Tariffs Service reconfigured the electricity balance plan for 2010. The amended plan contemplated the generation of 993.2 billion kilowatt-hours in 2009, 6.9 percent less than the targets initially set for 2009. The plan ultimately turned out to provide for the production of more than 1.5 percent electricity than was actually generated in 2009. 

The production of electricity for the first half of 2010 increased at a much faster pace than originally provided for in the balance plan. In the first two quarters of 2010, generation increased by 4.9 percent to 513.45 billion kilowatt-hours. Consumption rose by 5 percent, reaching 505.8 kilowatt-hours. In 2009, the electricity generation figure went down by 4.8 percent compared to the previous year, while consumption decreased 4.6 percent.