ST. PETERSBURG — Head of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service Igor Artemyev said Wednesday that power companies are engaging in abusive practices that could drive up electricity prices.
"I can list the companies that are buying not through producers, but through middlemen, for example Kamchatskenergo, OGK-6, the Kirishskaya electric plant, Kashirskaya electric plant, the Omsk branch of TGK-11, the Far East Generating Company, Mosenergo, which is interesting, and so on," Artemyev said in St. Petersburg at a meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin devoted to fuel and energy.
"We have to watch them, because this will result in higher prices for consumers," Artemyev said. Tough measures have to be taken against wholesale price manipulation on the power market, he continued.
"We have encountered things like price manipulation on the wholesale market, and we are opening about 10 cases," he said. There is "elementary fraud" on the wholesale electrical power market, and it is forcing prices up, he said.
"We believe we are fully capable of putting a stop to this, but the punishment has to be simply crazy, simply enormous," Artemyev said.
