Currently, Russia has three categories of power supply reliability. The first category, households, can only be disconnected from electricity for a maximum of 72 hours a year, with no more than 24 consecutive hours. The authors of the study propose classifying miners into a fourth category, subjecting them to longer disconnection periods.
Sergei Bezdelov, Director of the Industrial Mining Association, believes that this initiative can benefit all parties involved. He suggests that the decision is acceptable for businesses, and miners are willing to compromise. Valery Seleznev, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy, adds that miners are “unpretentious” and can safely handle disconnections from the network with sufficient warning.
This proposed initiative could serve as an alternative solution to the Ministry of Energy’s plan to raise electricity transmission tariffs for mining centers in energy-scarce regions.
The rise in mining centers in Siberia, following China’s cryptocurrency mining ban and Kazakhstan’s implementation of strict regulations, has strained the region’s power capacity. In just three years, industrial mining in Russia has tripled. Consequently, the Ministry of Energy plans to introduce new regulations specifically targeting mining centers, including significantly higher electricity transmission tariffs for crypto farms operating in regions with energy shortages.
Meanwhile, Irkutskenergosbyt, an energy company, continues its fight against illegal underground mining. Since the beginning of this year, the company has filed 794 lawsuits against underground miners. Over the past five years, they have filed a total of 1,882 lawsuits, with 1,074 cases deemed legitimate, resulting in the energy sector being awarded over 480 million rubles in court settlements.