Mining is not a domestic need, so electricity consumed for it should not be charged at the subsidised tariff for households. The Ministry of Energy said, пишет «Российская газета».
The ministry clarified that the legislation distinguishes electricity consumption by citizens for their own domestic needs and for purposes of carrying out entrepreneurial activity.
Moreover, the business tariff may apply not only to large sites, but also to private individuals mining cryptocurrencies for profit.
“The existing norms do not exclude the possibility of identifying consumption in a dwelling for commercial activity and billing such a consumer at prices set for entrepreneurial entities,” the ministry added.
Earlier, the governor of Irkutsk Oblast, Igor Kobzev, expressed readiness to provide sites for industrial mining. In his words, this would ease load on the power grids and would also entail higher electricity tariffs.
The need to differentiate tariffs for miners from the rest of the population was raised by the Ministry of Energy in October.
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