Rosseti supports merger with System Operator - CEO

VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 9 (Interfax) - PJSC Rosseti supports the idea of a merger with the System Operator, Rosseti CEO Andrei Ryumin told Interfax in an interview on the sidelines of the 2025 Eastern Economic Forum.

"We discuss this regularly, and for our part, we support such a merger. Most colleagues treat this with understanding, but there are nuances," Ryumin said.

"We believe that the trunk grids and the System Operator should be a single company. Currently, it turns out that one company plans grid construction regardless of whether funding sources are available or not, and another implements it and bears responsibility for it. In addition, there is a duplication of functions and infrastructure, and consequently a doubling of costs," he said.

"If we talk about the prospects of a merger with the System Operator, then this is more of a question for the Energy Ministry," he said regarding the prospects for such a decision.

The topic of merging the two companies has arisen before. Back in 2013, the then head of Rosseti, Oleg Budargin, approached the Energy Ministry with a similar idea. The next stage of discussions took place in 2017 amid power grid accidents that occurred at the time.

The topic was raised again during a speech by Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev in the Federation Council in July 2025. At that time, Tsivilev said that, unlike the System Operator, Rosseti is not represented in all regions of Russia, so for now the System Operator should continue to perform its functions.

"But we are beginning a gradual phase of bringing these two functions closer together, because today we see that there is a duplication of functions between Rosseti and the System Operator. The task is to remove this duplication of functions," Tsivilev said.

Following the minister's speech, the Federation Council adopted a resolution recommending that the Russian government consider the issue of eliminating the duplicate functions of the System Operator and the organization managing the unified national power grid, with their transfer to this organization.

JSC System Operator performs the functions of centralized operational and dispatch control in Russia's Unified Energy System (UES), as well as in technologically isolated territorial electric power systems. The company is 100% owned by the state.