«TNS Energo» is a Russian energy retail holding that operated in several regions of the country, including the Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl Regions. The company was founded in 2001 under the name OOO Transnefteservis S (TNS S); its original line of business was providing electricity to the trunk pipelines of OAO AK Transneft. Between 2006 and 2011, the company acquired controlling stakes in energy retail enterprises in the Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh, Karelian, Tula, and Yaroslavl Regions and the Republic of Mari El, and subsequently in the Rostov Region and Krasnodar Krai, forming a holding spanning eight regions. In 2012, OOO Transnefteservis S launched a rebranding process, after which the holding was renamed TNS Energo.[4] The company's Nizhny Novgorod subsidiary — TNS Energo Nizhny Novgorod — handled electricity sales to end consumers and settlements with grid organizations. In 2020, the holding's management came under criminal prosecution, and the company became the center of the largest energy case in the Volga Region.[1]

Operations and Structure

The holding sold electricity by collecting payments from consumers and remitting them to grid organizations for electricity transmission services. In the Nizhny Novgorod Region, the company operated under the brand TNS Energo Nizhny Novgorod; similar entities operated in the Yaroslavl and other regions. As of the time the Wikipedia article was published, the holding managed 10 energy retail companies with guaranteed supplier status in 11 regions of Russia; useful electricity output in 2021 totaled 67.05 billion kWh.[4] Co-owner and de facto controlling shareholder of the holding was Nizhny Novgorod businessman Dmitry Arzhanov, who at the time of his arrest appeared on the Russian Forbes list with an estimated net worth of approximately $1 billion.[1] The company's general director was Sergey Afanasyev, the executive director of the Nizhny Novgorod subsidiary was Boris Shchurov, and the deputy general director was Sofya Afanasyeva.[3]

Criminal Case

In November 2020, Arzhanov was arrested by the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow on charges of large-scale fraud. The holding's top managers were detained at the same time.[1] According to the prosecution, between 2011 and 2020 the management of the energy retail companies systematically diverted funds collected from electricity consumers in the Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl Regions that were intended to pay for the services of grid organizations — PJSC MRSK Tsentra and PJSC MRSK Tsentra i Privolzhya (subsidiaries of Rosseti). The damage, as assessed by the prosecution, amounted to approximately 14–15 billion rubles; investigators characterized the defendants' actions as organizing a criminal enterprise and fraud.[3]

The trial at the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow began in late 2023. In August 2026, during the closing arguments, the prosecutor requested 18 years in a maximum-security penal colony for Arzhanov and a fine of 856.9 million rubles, along with confiscation of assets: stakes in 12 legal entities, shares in TNS Energo, real estate, and cash. For former general director Sergey Afanasyev, the prosecution requested 17 years and a fine of 201.6 million rubles; for Boris Shchurov — 17 years and 111.7 million rubles; for Sofya Afanasyeva — 16 years and 39.9 million rubles. Another defendant in the case had previously been convicted under a plea agreement and sentenced to six years in a maximum-security penal colony.[1][3]

The prosecution also requested that civil claims filed by Rosseti subsidiaries — Privolzhye and Tsentr — totaling 14.9 billion rubles be granted.[3] All defendants deny the charges. Arzhanov stated in court that the amounts attributed to him constituted trade accounts receivable that had been fully settled by 2024; the defense maintains that no criminal offense was committed and argues that granting the civil claims would result in unjust enrichment of the grid companies.[3]

Dmitry Arzhanov

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (ru) — The company was founded in 2001 under the name OOO Transnefteservis S (TNS S); its original line of business was providing electricity to the trunk (archive)
  1. NIA «Nizhny Novgorod» — Prosecution requests 18 years in penal colony for Nizhny Novgorod oligarch Dmitry Arzhanov — Nizhny Novgorod News (archive)
  2. Otkryty Nizhny — Former co-owner of TNS Energo Arzhanov faces request for 18-year sentence — Incidents (archive)
  3. Vzglyad-NN — Prosecution requests up to 18 years in penal colony for former TNS Energo executives — Business News. Time to Earn
Materials from articles used (1)