Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved a plan of action (hereinafter referred to as the plan) to limit the final price of goods and services of infrastructure companies while preserving their financial stability and investment appeal.
In cooperation with other interested departments, the Ministry of Economic Development drafted the plan in pursuance of the Russian President’s instruction following the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg on 21 June 2013.
The plan covers railway transport, gas and electricity supplies, and utilities. Its goal is to help reduce the unregulated component in the final prices for services of natural monopolies starting in 2014.
The plan also seeks to reduce the overheads of natural monopolies and prices for goods and services provided by their counterparties, and to streamline the costs of investment programmes without changing their physical parameters. To achieve this, it is necessary to conduct independent technological and price auditing and improve purchasing policy.
The plan is expected to lead to zero adjustment of the average regulated fees of natural monopolies in these spheres during 2014, improve public access to goods and services of infrastructure companies, and reduce the growth of their expenses.
