Warm Winter Warmed No One
The abnormally warm weather in October to January led to the moderate rates of production advance blamed on the 8.2-percent drop in the thermal power demand. Other aaftereffects are the growth in fuel stocks and the sharp decline in its prices.
“To a certain extent, the moderate advance of production in December 2006 vs. December 2005 could be attributed to the 8.2-percent decline in the thermal power production due to the warm weather in December 2006,” Russian Statistics Service said in the report on the 2006 industry’s development. The output of thermal power lowered just 0.7 percent in December 2005, when the weather was quite normal, according to the statistics authority of Russia.
In Russia, the warm weather not only failed to set the production into motion, it curtailed its growth three fold instead. The industrial output stepped up no more than 1.9 percent on year in December of 2006 vs. the 4.9 percent advance achieved a year earlier. As a result, its annual growth was just 3.9 percent vs. 4 percent in 2005 and 4.6 percent forecasted by the Economic Development Ministry.
Moreover, “the warm weather hasn’t lead to any reduction in fuel costs at the plants of RAO UES of Russia,” said Tatiana Milyaeva, deputy chief of the mass media department at RAO UES. “In December, the electric energy consumption was practically the same as a year ago, when it was much colder.” According to Milyaeva, the growth in energy consumption, which was 4.4 percent in 2006, could be attributed not to the weather but rather to the industry’s advance and increased consumption of energy by households.
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All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 23, 2007
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