OREANDA-NEWS. November 24, 2014. CEO, Chairman of the Board of Sberbank of Russia Herman Gref spoke at the Third International Forum on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving (ENES 2014) during the plenary session “Power efficiency as a driver to increase competitiveness and economic growth”.

Herman Gref valued the financial market for economically sound projects aimed at improving energy efficiency and conservation at more than 1 trillion roubles per year, highlighting the public (utilities) sector (worth around 500 billion roubles annually).

Mr Gref focused on the need to take several measures to stimulate the energy service business that is oriented towards the public services sector, above all housing and public utilities. In his opinion, by transitioning to energy saving solutions in housing and public utilities it will be possible to stabilise the growth of people’s utilities bills, and in the future, create a transparent and well-grounded system that the population can use to pay for the quality and quantity of utilities services.

“Sberbank of Russia continues to work hard to encourage energy saving and energy efficiency projects by focusing on the utilities sector, in the interests of Russia’s population,” said Herman Gref.

The head of Sberbank stated that the Bank actively finances projects aimed at improving energy efficiency carried out by Russia’s largest industrial enterprises; this lending amounts to over 100 billion roubles per year. Sberbank initiated the creation of the energy service company Sberenergodevelopment, which works to optimise the operations of resource supplying companies. Sberbank of Russia, a major energy consumer, implements corporate-wide energy saving measures, and in specific areas has reduced consumption from 8 to 10% year-on-year.