The expert pointed to high electricity prices for industry

Russian industry, connected at high voltage (HF) to distribution networks, pays for electricity as in an expensive European jurisdiction. This opinion was expressed by the director of the Association "Community of Energy Consumers" Valery Dzyubenko.

According to him, by the end of 2025, large consumers on the VN tariff paid an average of 7.38 rubles per kWh, on the CH1 — 8.42 rubles. In the United States, the average price for industry in Russian currency was 7.21 rubles, in Texas — 5.48 rubles, in Louisiana — 5.21 rubles. In some Russian regions, the bill turned out to be significantly higher than the average, the expert noted.

"The only way for energy—intensive Russian enterprises not to get out of the competition is to use connection to the main electric networks," Dzyubenko believes. But, in his opinion, this margin of safety is short-lived: "mainline tariffs are growing faster than inflation and will jump 1.5 times only in the next 3 years."

The expert drew attention to the fact that energy-intensive industries abroad are protected by separate mechanisms. According to him, Germany is launching a preferential price for heavy industry in 2026-2028 at about 50 euros per MWh. The measure is designed for high-consumption companies competing in foreign markets, and its costs are estimated at 3-5 billion euros per year.

According to Dzyubenko, France chose a similar approach. The industrial price in the country is about 6.98 rubles per kWh. According to his calculations, this indicator is lower than the Russian CH1 tariff and lower than prices in a number of Russian industrial regions.

In Russia, according to the expert, "energy-intensive businesses that are sensitive to the price of a kilowatt-hour are trying in every possible way to burden additional payments and surcharges." In parallel, he said, restrictions on connecting to backbone networks and the introduction of fees to the network monopoly by "cable cross-section" are being discussed in isolation from the actual volume of consumption.

Among the surcharges in which the cost of a kilowatt hour is dissolved, Dzyubenko named cross-subsidization, network payments, investment additives and regional distortions. According to him, other countries are adjusting the energy model to the interests of chemists, metallurgists, glaziers and cement manufacturers. "Russia, having a resource base, is increasingly sewing various obligations into the price, sometimes unrelated to the electric power industry. As a result, the industry competes not only with foreign manufacturers, but also with its own tariff system," the expert believes.

"The absurdity of the design is that there is an economic resource, but a cheap industrial kilowatt is dissolved in superstructures. As a result, the industry competes not only with foreign manufacturers, but also with its own tariff system," the expert concluded.

The association "Community of Energy Consumers" unites large industrial consumers of electricity. The organization acts on issues of tariff regulation and conditions of energy supply to enterprises.