Tatarstan Sets a New Standard for Digital Customer Services in the Power Grid

Setevaya kompaniya (Grid Company), the regional electricity distribution operator in the Republic of Tatarstan, is the only regional grid operator in Russia responsible for networks ranging from 0.4kV to 500kV. Its client base therefore includes not only households but also corporate users, many of them large industrial consumers whose operations depend on stable power supply.

Managing infrastructure of this scale requires specialized operational approaches. A project implemented jointly with system integrator Onder enabled a large-scale digital transformation of customer services across the organization.

Using the ELMA365 platform, the company created a unified system integrating 19 core operational processes, 23 corporate information systems and 11 communication channels used by customers. ELMA365 is a Russian low-code platform that allows organizations to build applications through visual tools, reducing the need to write software code for routine operations.

After the platform was deployed, the time required to submit an application for grid connection fell by 38% – from 21 minutes to 13 minutes. The process of submitting meter readings accelerated fourteenfold, dropping from 28 minutes to just two minutes. Digital interactions now account for 45% of all customer communications, while request processing has become 20% faster.

The project also became an important step in Russia’s import substitution policy. By adopting ELMA365, the company was able to replace several foreign enterprise solutions, including Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Growth Drivers – From Artificial Intelligence to Technology Exports

The successful deployment of ELMA365 within such a large electricity distribution system demonstrates that the platform can be replicated across other regional grid operators in Russia. The architecture of the system also allows integration with IoT devices, advanced analytics tools and artificial intelligence technologies.

Most of the challenges in the project were not related to technology itself but to the organization of system integrations. Each system had its own owner and contractor, which meant that data models had to be aligned and certain services had to be modified. To simplify interaction between systems, we implemented intermediate integration services linking existing platforms with ELMA365. The platform’s architecture and open API made it possible to implement the required integrations without modifying the core system

Ildar Tukhfatullov

Project Manager, Onder

Russian low-code platforms could also gain traction in markets across the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Eurasian Economic Union, where they can provide cost-effective alternatives to expensive Western enterprise software.

How the Power Sector Moved Toward Platform-Based Systems

For ELMA, the Tatarstan project is not the first initiative in the electricity sector. As early as 2010, the Yekaterinburg Electric Grid Company began automating internal processes using the ELMA platform.

In 2025, the engineering firm YugEnergoInzhiniring, which performs commissioning and startup operations at energy and oil-and-gas facilities, also launched a project based on ELMA365 to manage projects, contracts and operational resources.

Technological Sovereignty as a Foundation for Industry Transformation

The project in Tatarstan reflects a broader shift in how energy infrastructure is managed. Digital technologies are no longer seen merely as supporting tools but as the foundation for building entirely new customer services and improving operational efficiency across utility companies.

Russian low-code platforms such as ELMA365 are becoming central to this transformation. They streamline business processes, introduce automation and enable the adoption of artificial intelligence tools while simultaneously eliminating dependence on imported software that dominated the Russian power sector for decades.

Their demonstrated efficiency also positions Russia as a potential supplier of such digital platforms to partner countries seeking reliable alternatives to Western enterprise systems.