Aug 26. The Energy Ministry and System Operator has worked out a program to reduce risks of peak loads in the national utilities industry in autumn-winter, said Deputy Minister Vyacheslav Sinyugin. There are eight regions with heightened risks, Sinyugin said. As reported earlier, they include Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Tyumen, Kuban, the Primorsk region, the Island of Sakhalin, Kamchatka and Nizhny Novgorod. Power blackouts are possible in six of the eight regions due to insufficient reserve capacities, both generating and grid, said Chairman of System Operator, which operates as an industry dispatcher, Boris Ayuev. Downtown Saint Petersburg could see problems, as well as the Nizhny Novgorod region – near the towns of Bor and Semenov, Kuban – near Novorossiysk, the Primorsk region – near Vladivostok, the Tyumen region could see problems only in the northern part, including the Khanty-Mansiisk Autonomous District and the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, Boris Ayuev said. Moscow and Kamchatka are included in the list for different reasons. Moscow has a mono-fuel type of generation facilities which could result in lower electricity output in the event of limited gas supplies. Gas suppliers are forced to limit deliveries for technological reasons in the event that temperatures drop below -25 degrees, explained System Operator's spokesperson.