Lower prices for heavy electricity users in Belarus as from 1 January

Plans have been made to introduce a new price plan for enterprises that consume a lot of electricity as from 1 January 2021. Belarusian Energy Minister Viktor Karankevich made the statement in BelTA’s press center on 21 December.

According to the source, a new price plan will be introduced for energy-intensive enterprises as from 1 January 2021. The prices will vary depending on how much electricity the enterprise consumes.

According to Viktor Karankevich, six categories of enterprises that consume electricity will be determined. The more electricity an enterprise consumes, the lower the price it will pay.

Viktor Karankevich pointed out that prices designed to encourage more electricity consumption were introduced for Belarusian households and for the real sector of the economy even before the first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant went online.

Thus, in 2019 new electricity rates were introduced for households that use electricity for heating and hot water supply. In January-November 2020 over 7,000 households switched to the new rates.

The energy minister noted that more and more households apply for technic specifications in order to use more electricity for the sake of heating, hot water supply, and cooking, and thus enjoy lower electricity rates. In January-November 2020 about 22,400 applications for technic specifications were submitted, with some 17,800 or 80% of them approved.