Russia's Inter RAO says China asked it to boost electricity supply

Russian state energy company Inter RAO said on Wednesday it had received a request from China to increase electricity supplies as the world's No.2 economy grappled with power cuts that hit industrial output. China has already demanded that railway companies and local authorities raise their game in shipping vital coal supplies to utilities..

Russian state energy company Inter RAO said on Wednesday it had received a request from China to increase electricity supplies as the world's No.2 economy grappled with power cuts that hit industrial output.

China has already demanded that railway companies and local authorities raise their game in shipping vital coal supplies to utilities.. China is facing an electricity deficit in northern provinces and asked Russia to boost exports to those regions, a spokesman of Inter RAO said.

Inter RAO, Russia's monopoly for electricity exports, was considering a significant increase in electricity supply, the spokesman said, providing no further details. Inter RAO reduced electricity exports to China by 1.3% to 3.06 billion kilowatt-hours last year and to 1.25 billion kilowatt-hours in the first half of this year, a 7.2% year-on-year decline.

The Russia-China transmission lines are capable of delivering up to 7 billion kilowatt-hours of electrical power per year. The governor of China's Jilin province had earlier called for higher coal imports from Russia, Mongolia and Indonesia.

The Russian energy ministry said it has not received any requests from China to increase coal exports.

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