Russia’s Ministry of Energy has confirmed that cryptocurrency mining companies will not be exempted from the country’s new “take-or-pay” electricity scheme, which requires consumers to pay for nearly their full declared power capacity rather than actual consumption.
The ministry told reporters that large data centres and mining operations have been placed in a separate category, meaning the mechanism will apply to them regardless of when they connected to the grid, covering both new and existing electricity buyers. For miners specifically, the minimum billable volume is proposed at 90% of declared capacity, compared with 70% for other consumers.
The scheme affects industrial users with capacity above 670 kilowatts. The ministry expects the new mechanism to take effect from 2027.
Utility companies supplying heat, water and sewerage have been proposed for exemption. Those firms warned that costs could at least double under the draft ministerial order, with the burden ultimately passed to households through tariffs.
Mining firm Algoritm previously conducted a study concluding that continuous grid-powered mining in Russia would become economically unviable within two to three years. The study found that rising energy costs meant Russia was already losing ground to large American companies. Algoritm wrote to the ministry asking it to abandon the take-or-pay principle, arguing that under current difficult economic conditions miners could instead act as grid-balancing organisations, absorbing surplus power during off-peak periods and cutting consumption during peak demand.
