Electric power problems and possibilities for efficient energy consumption at enterprises

Under conditions of worsening economic situation in the country and around the world, including increasing competition in domestic and foreign markets, the most important direction to increase competitiveness of an enterprise is to reduce the costs of energy resources in the production process. Insufficiently high level of efficiency of electric power use and incessant growth of its cost are the causes of increasing magnitude of energy costs in the production costs. This has a negative impact on efficiency and investment attractiveness of Russian enterprises. One of the ways to solve this problem is managing the efficient energy consumption of an enterprise. The starting points for comprehending these problems lie in studying the problems of reforming in electric power industry in the Russian Federation and analyzing the existing mechanism for stimulating entrepreneurial initiative and competition for consumers, along with searching for means of energy saving and energy efficiency of production. Managing rational energy consumption at an enterprise is impossible without analyzing the electricity market and the capacity market as special markets. The features of establishment and functioning of these markets determine abilities of enterprises to reduce or optimize energy consumption and reduce the fees for electricity and capacity. Strategic analysis of the power joint market of the Russian Federation allows us to understand pricing mechanisms for electric power and capacity, and provides enterprises with tools to regulate the amount of fee for electric power. Studying the problems of power industry reforming in the Russian Federation, of the features of electricity and electric capacity as special goods, and the power joint market of the Russian Federation, forms the extensive direction for rational energy consumption at an enterprise.