Russian Monopolies to Work for the State

Russia should create a commission to set up tariffs for all natural monopolies, such as railways, gas and oil transportation and the electric power grid, deputy economy minister Andrei Sharonov said on Friday. He said that the reform natural monopolies ``should serve the entire Russian economy rather than separate companies.'' He added that the government may order the creation of a unified tariff-setting commission already this month. In addition to establishing fees to be charged by monopolies, it should regulate customers' access to their services, he said. Currently, different tariffs are being regulated by the Anti-Monopoly Ministry, Transportation Ministry, Railways Ministry, Economy Ministry, Federal Energy Commission and regional authorities. They oppose the plan to create the unified tariff commission, saying it would lead to more bureaucracy and will require more funding from the government. The government gave its go-ahead to a plan to restructure Russia's power utility RAO UES by separating the power grid from electric stations this week. It has also said it plans to separate gas transportation from gas production in OAO Gazprom, in an attempt to make the economy more competitive.