MRSK Tsentra : Smolenskenergo’s specialists told businessmen about the features of grid connection

IDGC of Centre - Smolenskenergo division held a meeting with representatives of small and medium-sized businesses in the Smolensk region. Power engineers informed potential consumers about the main aspects of providing grid connection services, on changes in the legislation that occurred in May, and answered their questions.

The event was attended by representatives of the companies: PJSC 'Rostelecom', LLC 'Basis-Stroy', LLC 'Beton-Garant' and the Department for Investment Development of the Smolensk region.

Dialogue with businessmen was led by. Deputy Director for Sales and Development of Smolenskenergo Oleg Bonadisev, the head of the customer relations office of the branch Alexander Voitsekhovsky, the head of the section for work with customers of grid connections of the branch Evgeny Vashenkov and the head of the customer relations section of the branch Vladimir Panfilov.

The head of the customer relations office Alexander Voitsekhovsky told the audience about the measures taken by the branch to simplify the grid connection procedure, increasing the transparency of relationships with consumers. The head of the section for work with customers of grid connections Evgeny Vashenkov with the help of presentation materials explained to the representatives of small and medium business the stages of grid connection, and also spoke about the service 'turnkey grid connection', when the fulfillment of all the activities on the part of the consumer under the grid connection is taken by the energy company.

Also, businessmen were told about the procedure for submitting online applications for grid connection using the official website of the company - the tab 'Grid connection'/'Acceptance of applications for grid connection'. The service started working not so long ago, but is already popular among residents of the region, as it saves time and does not require a personal visit to the company. If in 2016, on average, less than 6.5% of applications were submitted remotely, then in early 2017 this share grew to 15%.

According to the organizers, such meetings in an open communication format allow synchronizing business development plans with existing power grid infrastructure, as well as increasing accessibility and significantly reducing the cost of connecting new sites to grids by redistributing capacities.

The meeting showed that representatives of small and medium-sized businesses have many issues on grid connection of their facilities. Basically, consumers are interested in the benefits and timing of the connection, so the energy company is trying with understandable terms and in details to explain all the rules so that the applicants will not have difficulty in submitting the application, and the process itself will be as short as possible.

The next similar event is planned to be held in the 3rd quarter of 2017.