RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Federal Law No. 41 of 1995 on State Regulation of Tariffs for Electric and Thermal Power in the Russian Federation (2010 Ed.)

Meta Data
Title in national language: 
Федеральный закон от 14.04.1995 г. №41-ФЗ "О государственном регулировании тарифов на электрическую и тепловую энергию в Российской Федерации" (в ред. от 27.07.2010 г.)
Draft: 
No
Revision of previous policy?: 
No
Draft Year: 
1995
Effective Start Year: 
2010
Effective End Year: 
2011
Scope: 
National
Document Type: 
Law
Economic Sector: 
Energy, Power
Energy Types: 
Power, Other
Issued by: 
Adopted by the State Duma - Lower House of the Federal Assembly, endorsed by the Federal Council - Upper House of the Federal Assembly
Notes: 
No English translation available
Source: 
Regulatory Database 'Consultant Plus' (RU)
File: 
Federal Law No. 41 of 1995 on State Regulation of Tariffs for Electric and Thermal Power (2010 Ed.) (RU)
Overall Summary: 
The Federal Law no 41 defines economic, organizational and legal foundations of national regulation on electricity and heat tariff setting in the Russian Federation. The regulation of electricity and heat (capacity) tariffs (hereinafter also "tariffs") shall be performed in accordance with the principles set forth by the present Federal Law through the establishment of economically feasible tariffs (prices, service fees) for electricity and heat and/or their limits (part one as amended by Federal Law No. 38-FZ of March 26, 2003). The effective period of established tariffs and/or their limits may not be less than one fiscal year, unless otherwise established by a federal law, a decision of the Government of the Russian Federation (part two as amended by Federal Law No. 199-FZ of December 31, 2005). The limits on tariffs for electricity and heat supplied by power supplying entities to customers, including the limits on tariffs for households, shall be established by the Government of the Russian Federation; the limits for households shall be formulated annually before the submission of the draft federal law on the federal budget for the next fiscal year to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and shall come into force on the first day of the above-mentioned year in accordance with the procedure established by this Federal Law. The above-mentioned tariff limits may be established by the Government of the Russian Federation and broken down by calendar date or customer category adjusted for regional and other peculiarities (as amended by Federal Laws No. 6-FZ of January 10, 2003, No. 125-FZ of July 7, 2003, No. 147-FZ of December 2, 2005). The executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the area of government regulation of tariffs shall establish the tariffs for electricity and heat supplied by power supplying entities to customers, including households, for the next fiscal year within the above-mentioned limits before the adoption of a law of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation on the budget of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation (part four is introduced by Federal Law No. 6-FZ of January 10, 2003). ---- The policy lost effect on 1 January 2011.
Pricing
Energy pricing: 
The national regulation on tariff setting shall be performed in accordance with the following principles [...]: 1) protection of the economic interests of economic agents against monopolistic tariff raising; 2) establishing a mechanism for aligning the interests of producers and consumers of electricity and heat; 3) developing a competitive environment in the electric power sector to increase the efficiency of its functioning and minimize tariffs; 4) creating economic incentives ensuring the use of energy saving technologies in production processes; 5) ensuring equal access to the wholesale market for corporate entities that are producers of electricity (capacity) irrespective of organizational and legal forms of law [...]. ---The government regulation of tariffs shall comply with the following principles: 1) ensuring balance among the economic interests of the suppliers and consumers of electricity and heat based on the affordability of the above-mentioned types of energy and economically feasible rate of return on investment in the generation and transmission of electricity and heat and activities related to dispatching administration in the electric power industry; 2) determination of the economic feasibility of planned (design) production cost and profit in the calculation and approval of tariffs; 3) ensuring the openness and availability for customers[...]; 4)[...]ensuring that the costs of profit-making organizations in connection with the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and heat are economically feasible; 5) provision of financial resources for the development of production, scientific, technical and social development to profit-making organizations in the domain of generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and heat [...]; 6) creation of conditions for the attraction of domestic and foreign investment; 7) determination of the amount of funds used for labor compensation in accordance with industry-specific rate agreements; 8) selection of suppliers of power equipment and contractors for energy and electric grid construction by tender; 9) consideration of performance of power supplying entities for the period of validity of previously approved tariffs. [...]
Governance
Energy institutional structures: 
Art 5. Authority of Federal Executive Bodies in the Area of Government Regulation of Tariffs (as amended by Federal Law No. 250-FZ of November 4, 2007) In the area of government regulation of tariffs the Government of the Russian Federation or the federal executive body in the area of tariff regulation shall: 1) approve the regulatory framework for the activities of executive bodies in the area of government regulation of tariffs; 2) establish the foundations of electricity and heat pricing in the Russian Federation, including the procedure for determining the price of electricity sold in the wholesale market at regulated prices adjusted for the regional characteristics of tariff setting in the wholesale market; 3) approve the rules of government regulation and application of electricity and heat tariffs; 4) define the procedure for establishing the long-term parameters for regulating the activities of entities in the sector of the electric power industry classified by the laws of the Russian Federation as the areas of activity of natural monopolies and/or the prices of (tariffs for) certain types of goods (services) which are subject to regulation in accordance with the list defined by the federal laws; 5) define the procedure for consideration of controversies arising among the executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, entities performing regulated activities and customers, as well as the amount of a fee payable for the consideration of the above-mentioned controversies and the procedure for its payment; 6) approve, for regulatory purposes, the rules for determining the value of assets and invested capital using counterpart comparison methods, the rules for their separate accounting applied in the activities regulated using the rate of return on investment; 7) establish the procedure for determining the fee for engineering connection to electric grids; 8) establish the criteria for defining the producers of electricity having the right to sell it at unregulated prices; 9) develop and approve a common system of classification and separate accounting for costs by type of activity of power supplying entities, as well as систему the system of statements submitted to the federal executive body in the area of tariff regulation; 10) define the limit on and procedure for the sale of electricity (capacity) at unregulated prices in the wholesale market; 11) form a consolidated forecast balance of the generation and supply of electricity (capacity) within the Unified Power System of Russia by constituent entity of the Russian Federation adjusted for the forecast fuel balance, trends towards the electric power industry development for housing and utility service needs, the characteristics of delivery of products (goods) in districts with limited timelines for its delivery and other factors; 12) exercise control over the use of investment resources included in government-regulated tariffs in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Russian Federation; 13) approve the investment programs of the electric power industry's entities in whose authorized capitals the government participates and grid entities classified as entities whose investment programs are approved by the duly authorized federal executive body; 14) exercise control over the implementation of investment programs of the electric power industry's entities in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Russian Federation; 15) define the list of services related to the organization of functioning and development of the Unified Power System of Russia, establish the amount of a fee for the above-mentioned services and define the procedure for their payment; 16) set the prices of (tariffs for) system reliability services and establish a fee for engineering connection to the Unified National (All-Russian) Power Grid and/or standardized tariff rates determining the amount of this fee; 17) set the tariffs for electricity transmission services and their (lower and/or upper) limits in accordance with the procedure established by this Federal Law; 18) set the tariffs for services related to dispatching administration in the electric power industry and (lower and/or upper) limits on the prices of (tariffs for) the above-mentioned services with regard to organizing the selection of providers and payment for system reliability services, services related to ensuring the emergency recovery of the Unified Power System of Russia, services related to the formation of engineering capacity reserve; 19) set the tariffs or (lower and/or upper) limits on the tariffs for electricity sold by generators in the wholesale market, with the exception of sale of electricity by them at unregulated prices in the amount and in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Russian Federation; 20) set (lower and/or upper) limits on the prices of electricity sold by generators in the wholesale market at unregulated prices as provided for by the Government of the Russian Federation; 21) define the amount of funds necessary to ensure the secure functioning and development of nuclear power plants included in the tariffs or (lower and/or upper) limits on tariffs for electricity sold in the wholesale market by generators that are owners of the above-mentioned nuclear power plants; 22) set (lower and/or upper) limits on the tariffs for electricity supplied by power supplying entities to customers, including the tariffs for electricity sold at unregulated prices; 23) set (lower and/or upper) limits on the tariffs for heat produced by the power plants generating electricity and heat in a cogeneration mode; 24) consider controversies arising among the executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the area of government regulation of tariffs, entities performing regulated activities and customers, and adopt binding decisions; 25) exercise control over the application of government regulated prices (tariffs) and audit the economic operations of entities performing activities in the domain of regulated pricing with regard to the reasonableness of the amount and correctness of application of the above-mentioned prices (tariffs); 26) provide concurrence for the decisions of executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the area of government regulation of tariffs in accordance with the established procedure; 27) set (lower and/or upper) limits on the tariffs for heat, with the exception of heat produced by power plants generating electricity and heat in a cogeneration mode. The Government of the Russian Federation shall define the scope of authority of the federal executive body in the area of tariff regulation within the authority limits defined by this article and other federal laws.