MOSCOW (RIA Novosti economic commentator Vasily Zubkov)

 When the phased blackout hit the U.S. East Coast in 2003, the Russian specialists analyzed it to preclude it in Russia.

Representatives of the United Energy Systems RAO UES of Russia had said then that they should not only analyze reasons for that catastrophe but also rule out its possibility in Russia.

RAO UES head Anatoly Chubais said then that the possibility of such a catastrophe was negligibly small in Russia. He explained that the two countries' systems of protection against phased blackouts were fundamentally different. According to him, Russia used a technology that had no analogues in the world. The country has a network of high-capacity transmission lines that incorporated absolutely all electricity producing enterprises, he said.

The electricity chief said they were also using the advantages of Russia's latitude location: When it is night in the Far East and Siberia and electricity consumption goes down, the excess of electricity is channeled to European Russia. The time zones allow them to gradually reduce or increase the load on the electricity network.

Two years ago, the press secretary of the Russian energy monopolist told me that we should have no fear, because accident protection systems in big industrial regions precluded the electricity collapse similar to the 2003 blackout in the U.S. According to her, no more than one or two districts (100,000-150,000 residents) could be left without electricity in a region or a multimillion city for a short time.

But a half of Moscow was left without electricity and water last Wednesday and the following night. Shops suffered sky-high material losses.

The May 25 electric paralysis in Moscow showed that the promises of RAO UES management cannot be trusted. We cannot believe that the equipment of the company's Dispatcher Center can quickly react to emergencies by redirecting electricity supply to affected areas. Regrettably, the reserve generators were not turned off quickly enough on May 25.

Electricity problems and a subsequent phased blackout on May 25 were provoked by a fire at the Chagino substation in Kapotnya at 9:15 p.m. on May 24. The local staff put out the fire before the fire teams arrived, but electricity started failing in many districts of Moscow the next morning. Big residential and industrial areas in east and south Moscow were left without electricity, and hazardous accidents were registered at plants in the Moscow region and neighboring zones (including the emission of the deadly phenol - carbolic acid).

This brought to mind the optimistic promises of the capital's energy system, Mosenergo, two years ago. Its spokesmen said more than once that a quick change to reserve electricity is stipulated in the metro, which carries over 12 million passengers daily. But on May 25 dozens of trains stopped in tunnels and tens of thousands of passengers walked to the surface along rails in complete darkness. Five metro lines had no electricity and could not resume normal operation till late at night. Hundreds of thousands of Muscovites hitched rides homes or lined for the buses collected from all over the city. The failure of hundreds of traffic lights provoked chaos in Moscow streets.

Unfortunately, the promises that all major hospitals would use spare generators in case of emergency did not materialize - several big hospitals and other medical establishments did not have electricity until late at night. We should thank the selflessness of doctors who worked wonders to save their patients.

On the other hand, Mosenergo warned recently about possible phased blackouts because of the point construction of residential blocks, which had pushed the energy system to a dangerous edge. It even published a list of districts where electricity problems had become critical.

Early this year, Anatoly Libet, head of the Mosenergo client department, said, "Electricity systems are overloaded, just as the main transmission lines; the wires are glowing in some places. This means that any hike in the load at the generating systems and transmission lines can provoke a blackout at the power plant and the transfer of the load to a neighboring substation, which has no electricity reserves either."

Many people noted that the Moscow government reduced by 30% allocations for the construction of social and engineering infrastructure in a bid to increase housing construction. Mikhail Korotkov, press secretary of Mosenergo, said on May 25 that housing construction proceeded at a fast pace in Moscow but was not complemented with the creation of new electricity supply systems.

Anatoly Chubais has asked Muscovites' forgiveness and promised to find the guilty parties. The prosecutors are investigating the case, and this may possibly lead to a change in the RAO UES management.