Russian Energy Ministry does not see need to legislatively mandate directing energy companies' dividend flow towards investments - deputy minister

MOSCOW. Oct 15 (Interfax) - The Energy Ministry does not see the need to legislatively mandate the direction of energy companies' dividend flow towards investments, with targeted decisions being made for state companies, Deputy Energy Minister Yevgeny Grabchak told journalists on the sidelines of Russian Energy Week 2025 (REN 2025).

"There is legislation on joint-stock companies, covering everything related to dividends. There are companies where the state is the main shareholder. The main shareholder has the right to make decisions regarding its sphere of activity," Grabchak said.

"These should be targeted decisions for each company," he said.

Grabchak also commented on analogies with other industries.

"The coal industry has an agreement, it is a different form. If you recall, general decisions were made regarding windfall profits, but that was also within the framework of the law. Corresponding regulatory legal acts were developed. So far, I have not heard that there were such initiatives. From our side, there definitely were not," Grabchak said.

The Energy Ministry supports the idea of directing the dividend flow of state energy companies towards investments, Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said in July 2025.

The state directly owns the largest shares in RusHydro and Rosseti .

In 2023, President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to work out a number of measures to support Rosseti. In particular, this concerned providing for the refusal to pay dividends for the results of 2022-2026.

Support measures for PJSC RusHydro were approved at a meeting on energy issues held by President Putin in early September, including directing the dividend flow towards investments.