ERDF to manage Siberian electricity distributor

Russian electricity distributor MRSK has placed its Tomsk subsidiary in West Siberia under the management of France's ERDF, MRSK head Nikolai Shvets said on Monday. "All actions...will be concentrated upon the improvement of the (electricity) distribution firm's management. We will sum up after a year-and-a-half and then make decisions about further cooperation," Shvets told RIA Novosti. MRSK hopes the French company will improve the quality of the subsidiary's services, cut expenses and raise net profit, reduce losses and implement a 416 million ruble ($14.3 million) investment program for 2012 with high efficiency and improve safety conditions for staff. The subsidiary's press service told reporters that there would be a trial period of cooperation until 2013, while bilateral agreement ends December 31, 2019. As for ERDF, the company's goals in Russia are to improve the network infrastructure's energy efficiency and to be involved in the management and renovation of the Russian electricity networks.