Energy Ministry will be checked for a month

The authorities acknowledged that in Belarus are among the highest electricity rates in the world.

Electricity tariff for industrial consumers in Belarus is higher than in our neighbors, in particular, in Latvia it is 12 cents per 1kWh, in Poland - 10, in Russia - 9, in Belarus — 14.

While setting tariffs, the Belarusian Energy Ministry in some cases is guided by its own interests instead of state ones. The opinion was voiced by Alexander Yakobson, Chairman of the State Control Committee, at the government session held by the Belarus President on 16 April to discuss the operation and development of the Belarusian power engineering system, the press service of the Lukashenka told.

Speaking about the tariff policy, Alexander Yakobson remarked that it is determined by departmental regulations that were adopted in the 20th century. Since then the structure of energy generation and consumption has changed, modern and more effective equipment has been installed at power engineering installations. However, in some cases the Economy Ministry and the Energy Ministry determine the approaches to calculating tariffs using the Energy Ministry interests instead of state ones, said the official.

He referred to electricity prices for households for 2013. According to Alexander Yakobson, the prices include higher fuel consumption rates and losses in electrical and heating networks than those registered in 2012. While the cost of natural gas used by Belenergo enterprises has dropped by 12%, the fuel component in the electricity tariff has been reduced by only 2.5%.

The Chairman of the State Control Committee believes that the issue of losses resulting from cross-subsidizing household tariffs at the expense of corporate tariffs should be resolved faster. With prices for electricity and heating for industrial enterprises high, companies resort to building their own power sources. As a result, the workload of the power grid drops, resulting in higher costs of energy for the rest of the customers.

For comparison Alexander Yakobson quoted tariffs paid by companies in neighboring countries. In particular, companies in Latvia pay $0.12 per 1kWh, the price in Poland is $0.10, in Russia $0.09 and in Belarus it is $0.14.