How much "kilowatts of Chubais"?
In his opinion, there are two ways to do this. (And much simpler than those that he used in the large-scale “cutting” of the leading branches of the Russian economy, and only later, when reforming RAO UES of Russia, which turned into a meaningless and merciless section of domestic energy).
So, Mr. Chubais, who once, by the way, was in charge of this natural energy monopoly, proposes to begin to align energy tariffs in Russia with average ones. The average is not for the ward, it would be too much for “Dr. Chubais”, either in Europe or in the whole “civilized world”. Russia was actually quite unequivocally offered to “spit” on the experience of this “civilized world” itself (with sanctions and an unprecedented propaganda campaign). But for some reason it is still fashionable to refer to this experience among the associates of Chubais.
However, if we follow his statements precisely, our former chief power engineer is convinced that "it is worth balancing the prices of electricity in Russia, which are half the world average." At the same time, hold on to the chairs, according to him, such cheap energy in Russia is “because of the reform of electric power industry started by him (Chubais. Aut.)” And ... already as an appendage, “because of the devaluation of the ruble.” It is unlikely that anyone will argue with the latter, but it’s impossible to agree with the fact that we have really cheap energy.
After privatization, Chubais managed to do one more thing, which many considered absolutely impossible. Under the beautiful market slogans, he not only scattered the power capacities of the oligarchs, he crushed into poorly functioning and sometimes duplicating each other structures a powerful unified organization, the remnants of which still serve kilowatts far beyond the borders of Russia and even the former USSR.
In fact, the confidence of the person who did this can only be envied. Once he really promised the Russians almost universal reduction of energy tariffs ... due to the fact that there will be competition in the industry after its reform. We will not bore the reader with numbers here, noting only that energy tariffs have grown since then, and much more, both in rubles and in dollar terms. Anyone can always easily check or see their accounts for the past year and for the year 2018.
Leaving the post of head of the UES, fragmented into parts, Chubais changed the record, and he somehow forgot at once that the tariffs should have decreased. Subsequently, a retired power engineer has repeatedly said that electricity in Russia is too cheap. In his argument, it was also said that this undermines the incentive to energy efficiency, hampers the development of the manufacturing industry, especially power engineering. Also, in his estimation, already later and, we recognize, quite fair, because of the cheapness of gas, the Russian electric power industry continues “it is senseless to burn 50 − 60 billion cubic meters annually. m of blue fuel, and this is the volume of consumption of a small European country. "
Not long ago, Chubais even warned that in such conditions in Russia a massive energy crisis cannot be ruled out. Which can happen due to the fact that the growth in demand for electricity will exceed the capacity growth opportunities. But after all, professional energy specialists immediately after the reform in the industry realized that very soon it would be like this: “there is reform, but there is no current”.
However, in most cases the current is still there, no merit of the energy reform and the reformer personally, sorry, no. For many years, the state has invested hundreds of billions and even trillions of rubles in the energy sector, not paying attention to the fact that this was due to the growth of tariffs. Need forced. If the GRES and HPPs, the Moscow thermal power plants, and even more the NPPs, had risen, such consequences of the reform would not be forgiven not only by Chubais, but also by those who are taller.
As a result, we now have what we have, that is, by no means fallen, according to the promise of Chubais, then still the main power engineer of the country, but rather high tariffs. This is only in direct comparison with the tariffs of other countries, Russian kilowatts may seem cheap, in the same way, by the way, like gasoline, and a number of other energy resources. Meanwhile, Russia, with its enormous distances, with the annual need to transfer the entire economy to the winter mode of operation, with a host of other problems, is in dire need of cheap energy resources, and it is not worth it, Anatoly Borisovich, to even try to convince us otherwise.
However, today Mr. Chubais is no longer as sharply expressed as several years ago. He does not say that it is right from his words that we need to raise the price of electricity. The head of Rosnano did not forget to admit that “Russia is still a poor country, and taking it straight from the go, it’s wrong to solve the problem of raising prices. It is right to create a situation in which the rich pay more and the poor remain at the same level. ”
Bravo, Anatoly Borisovich, and I want to believe that you still understand that the lowest possible energy tariff is almost our last competitive advantage. However, no, I forgot one more thing - we still have a very, very cheap labor force. Perhaps, it is no longer as qualified as under the USSR, but still.
Yes, with the wasteful expenditure of the same electricity, coal and gas, gasoline, really, it’s time to stop. But the reason for equalizing tariffs with European ones can be only one thing: achieving the same as in Europe, and not in the East, but in the West, the standard of living, the level of wages and pensions.
But let us return to the “great liberal ideas” of the ex-privatizer and the former, thank God, energy. After it is possible to “balance” the tariffs, according to Chubais, one can proceed to the main thing - to bans. He correctly described them as “painful”, as well as tariff transformations. However, Mr. Chubais concluded his maxim about the “prohibitions” very briefly: “There are a number of decisions based on frontal prohibitions in accordance with the best international practices.” It would be very surprising if a real liberal did not refer to world experience. Where are Russia without him.
It remains to be repeated that the “father of the voucher” made all his indisputable statements just the other day - at the Gaidar Forum, the traditional gathering place of the national liberal party. For years, its representatives, like a spell, repeat complaints about the fact that they are underestimated, not allowing them to compete with pro-presidential parties.
But this is in politics, and meanwhile, it is liberal ideas and their direct vehicles that today are ruling the ball in the domestic economy. Even the main control department of the country, the Accounts Chamber, was recently headed by the “liberal of liberals” Alexei Kudrin, which, however, is better to be regarded positively. In the Chamber of Accounts, it’s necessary to consider, and not to put into practice, dubious theories and “valuable instructions” from one well-known “regional committee”.
A very traditional set of liberal ideas was presented at the next Gaidar Forum, but even against this background, the head of Rosnano, as we see, managed to stand out. It is understandable why Chubais chose to speak out on the case among his own. Indeed, in other circles, as the author wrote, many will not even listen to him, and they prefer to hear about him as little as possible. But it is clear that the time has come to save the very “great liberal idea”. Especially since the “great liberal” himself, it seems, seriously believes that his advice can be not only taken into consideration, but really used in action.
Now, according to his estimates, the problem of low energy efficiency of our economy is hampered by the fact that the remaining production cannot be modernized, and all new enterprises are either screwdriver production plants or factories, which for some reason very often almost immediately lose in comparison with Chinese or European competitors.
The last Mr. Chubais should know at least from his own experience of being the head of the company that manages nanotechnologies, the management company Rosnano, which only recently was forced to write off several dozen projects as unprofitable. Chubais is also convinced that it is not bad management that is to blame for everything, although could one really have expected a different assessment from the manager, who introduced the very concept of “effective managers”?
It is only the state that is to blame for everything, that is, the leadership of the country. Why? Yes, because who, if not the government, should consider himself guilty of the fact that in Russia there is still a “bad economic dynamics”, and there is also a place for poverty, which has covered almost half of the population? However, in general, it is strange that Mr. Chubais nods to the government with such blatant discontent, because almost the entire economic bloc is there - his colleagues and almost all his colleagues.
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