The Russian Ministry of Energy has proposed to increase electricity tariffs for cryptocurrency miners. According to the head of the department Nikolai Shulginov, they should not consume electricity at prices for the population, reports RBK…
“We are working on the issue of the electric power industry. To maintain the reliability and quality of power supply, we believe it is necessary to exclude the possibility of electricity consumption by miners at tariffs for the population, ”the minister emphasized.
Shulginov clarified that it is necessary to split tariffs so that miners cannot take advantage of reduced prices for consumers and do not worsen the situation, since otherwise they will have to increase the volume of cross-subsidization, which is unacceptable.
Earlier, the governor of the Irkutsk region Igor Kobzev complained to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who oversees the fuel and energy complex, about the underground cryptocurrency miners. He noted that in 2021, electricity consumption by the population in the Russian region will exceed last year’s level by 159 percent. At the same time, the electricity balances, according to the regional development program for 2022–2026, provided for an increase in energy consumption in 2021 by only 2.8 percent compared to last year. A quarter of the total electricity consumption by the population accounts for 1.4 percent of households in the region, the head of the region notes.