Livinsky told Sergey Brilev, president of the Global Energy Association, that increasingly active consumer behaviour had become a focal point of the industry.

“The consumer is becoming a full-fledged participant in the process. And it’s vitally important,” he told Dr. Brilev in an online interview during the event organised by the World Energy Union.

Livinsky said this behaviour can be observed in the mobile communications sector, which gives the consumer the option to choose a tariff plan, and with simplified access to the electricity grid. The consumer, he said, is able to take on the role of “prosumer” – both producer and consumer – at the same time.

Livinsky said it was an intellectual system of metering which enabled the modern consumer to become fully integrated in the process of power supply. 

“This is a vehicle to grid concept. The electric vehicle not only makes use of power but also feeds into the system,” he said. “This technology could become widespread in the near future.”

Among the main tasks facing the electricity generating industry over the next decade, he said, was the creation of a system to store energy and a means to store data.

“This is clearly the key to future development,” he told Dr. Brilev. “And it is important that this will fundamentally change the logic of electricity generation.”

Livinsky said competition was stiffening within the sector, with new players coming from other industries.

“Our approach in 2017 was to come up with a policy of digital transformation,” he said. “This is not merely making the processes automatic, but rather systemic, deep changes to the logic behind the processes, the optimisation of those processes and the structure of power supply.”

Livinsky said his company had, against the background of the COVID pandemic, achieved a balance between on-site and remote working practices for its staff.

“At the moment, as there is a rise in infections, we are monitoring the situation,” he said. “A separate unit has been created – headed directly by me – and in 80 regions throughout the country we have adopted specific decisions on tightening preventive measures and introducing remote working practices. We ease or toughen the measures depending on the epidemiological situation.”