OREANDA-NEWS. April 16, 2009. Russia’s Federal Grid Company (FGC) plans to cut in half its investment program for 2009-2011 to RUB 456.3 bn and pay out no dividends for 2008, the utility concern’s first deputy management board chairman Alexander Chistyakov reported Wednesday. “The government held a meeting that largely approved the concern’s investment program for 2009-2011.

FGC’s investment program totals RUB 456 bn,” Chistyakov said. Earlier the investment program for FGC that unites trunk grids within the Unified National Energy System was estimated at roughly RUB 900 bn for this period. Last week the Russian government agreed to slash investment programs at state-controlled utilities companies by approximately 40% due to lower energy consumption in the country.

Based on FGC’s forecasts, energy consumption will continue to decline in the next few years, Chistyakov said. This year FGC’s 2009 investment program will total slightly more than RUB 156 bn, RUB 41.4 bn of which is the utility concern’s own funds, RUB 39.4 bn is to come from the budget and the remainder are receipts from the sale of UES assets and borrowed funds.