Greater efficiency of repair and maintenance activities ensured stable work of energy enterprises and considerably reduced repair costs.

The total value of maintenance work done at power plants and heat pipelines in 2002 was RUB 38.8 billion, a 17.6% increase from last year. During the year, repairs were carried out on generators with an aggregate capacity of 42.6 thousand MW, power boilers with the steam capacity of 170.3 t/h, hot-water boilers with the total heat capacity of 12.5 thousand Gcal/h. 669.4 km of heat pipelines were replaced. In 2002, the volume of repairs at energy companies located in the problem areas increased compared to the previous years, which enabled the companies to better prepare for the autumn/winter period. As a result, all enterprises of RAO "UES of Russia" obtained readiness passports for the 2002/2003 autumn/winter period.

Repairs and maintenance program for power plants and heat pipelines of RAO "UES of Russia"

Units of equipment	Unit of measurement	2001	2002	2002/2001, %
Turbines	thousand MW	44.2	42.6	96.4
Power boilers	thousand t/h	150.0	170.3	113.5
Hot-water boilers	thousand Gcal/h	7.9	12.5	158.2
Heat pipelines (replacement)	km	576.5	669.4	116.1
Repair expenses	RUB billion	33.0	38.8	117.6

What makes the 2002 repairs and maintenance program different is the abandonment of the formal, "calendar-based" approach. Today, RAO "UES of Russia" enterprises are switching to modern maintenance techniques depending on the actual load and specific faults found in a particular machine. This helped to bring the volume of repairs in 2002 close to the optimum value. This volume is quite sufficient to maintain equipment in good working condition while allowing to accumulate funds needed to retool and refurbish the plant. In 2003, RAO "UES of Russia" intends to focus on improving management of its repair and maintenance businesses and reducing repair costs. This can be achieved, primarily through reforming this line of business and creating a market for repair and maintenance services. This year will see a continued effort to transfer repair and maintenance staff from regional energos and AO-power plants.

In the period under review, implementation of competitive procurement procedures in the repair and maintenance practice (the number of competitive tenders increased tenfold compared to 2001) made it possible to reduce the actual expenditures by RUB 1.92 billion from the target figure, while accounts payable to contractors for the provided repair services decreased by RUB 1.7 billion (32%) and payables to suppliers of goods needed for repairs and maintenance decreased by RUB 1.25 billion (24%). The volume of repair and maintenance work performed at energy companies in the problem areas increased compared to the previous years. It is planned that at least 50% of the repairs to be performed at RAO "UES of Russia" in 2003 will be implemented using competitive procurement procedures.