Due to miners, household electricity consumption in several regions of Russia could rise by as much as 2.5 times this year. Market participants told Izvestia.
According to the head of the energy business at En+ Group, Mikhail Khardikov, the growth in electricity consumption by miners posing as ‘households’ across the country in 2021 could amount to more than 20%. Meanwhile, the increase in domestic electricity consumption in some regions could reach 250%, said Igor Runets, the CEO of mining data-centre operator Bitriver.
Shadow miners do not register a business, installing energy-intensive equipment in residential buildings and garages. Today they consume 500–700 MW, and their number may be 50,000–100,000, according to an industry source.
Earlier, authorities in the Irkutsk region reported an avalanche-like rise in household electricity consumption in the region by 159% due to shadow miners.
“Due to the rapid growth of shadow cryptocurrency mining, which places an excessive burden on the country’s power grid and is not regulated by legislation, Russians could face widespread power outages in the coming years,” added Mikhail Khardikov.
Earlier, in November, representatives of several ministries in Russia supported the initiative to recognise mining as a form of entrepreneurial activity.
Head of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets Anatoly Aksakov proposed to separately codify the taxation procedure for individuals and legal entities engaged in cryptocurrency mining.
In the Ministry of Energy, in turn, they ruled out applying a preferential tariff for Bitcoin miners. For now, regions have to pursue recalculations through the courts.
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