OREANDA-NEWS  The government's attempt to gradually transfer Russians to differentiated electricity tariffs so that households with increased consumption pay more for it turned out to be unsuccessful. Of the 57 regions participating in the reform, only the authorities of the Kaliningrad Region decided to set a ceiling for a low tariff close to real figures, while the rest overestimated it as much as possible. Vedomosti writes about this with reference to a study by the Institute of Economics and Regulation of Infrastructure Industries of the Higher School of Economics.

The Ministry of Energy insists on such a policy to reduce the burden on businesses, which pay extra for reduced prices for the population. Also, a differentiated tariff will help bring cryptocurrency miners from residential to commercial premises.

Attempts to introduce a consumption ceiling, above which rates would rise, were made back in 2018-2019. The mechanism became mandatory only at the end of 2023, but, in fact, it never worked.

There are three levels of payment for electricity in the scheme. The first assumes a preferential tariff, the second, if there is a slight excess of the ceiling, implies a higher rate, and the third, when a high volume of consumption is recorded, converts tariffs to market prices. The rate becomes the same as that paid by small industrial consumers.