The electricity in St. Petersburg is 220 volt, 50 Hz. and standard outlets use two round prongs (pins) slightly smaller in diameter than found in some Western European countries.

TYP Note: Russians routinely unplug electronic equipment when not in use to protect against power surges. Most power sources are ungrounded. Get a professional electrician to ground your electrical system.

European Appliances: All standard European appliances and electronics will work fine and need no conversion. In some cases, however, the plug pins may be too large for the wall socket. In this case you can buy an adapter or make the wall socket pin holes larger to accommodate the plug.

North American Appliances: Now many appliances from North America, such as laptop computers, battery chargers and travel appliances, automatically adapt to or can be switched to 220 voltage & 50 cycles/hertz.

You still will need a round two-pin plug adapter. A surge protector is also recommended. Buy some plugs and adapters before you arrive and check that the pins are the right size and not too thick.

Transformers: For appliances that run only on 110 volt (e.g. lights, heaters, motors), you can use a transformer to convert from 220 volt to 110-130 volt without problems. It is not possible, however, to easily convert 50 Hz to 60 Hz, so be sure that your appliances or equipment can work with 110-300 volt, 50 Hz power (US market photocopiers will not work in Russia without modification of the clock chip (60 MHz to 50 MHz).
The small travel transformers are effective for small appliances & hair dryers, but not large motors, appliances and photocopiers. A 300 watt transformer (about 2.5 amps) for a computer weighs about 10 pounds and a 1,000 watt transformer for laser printers and photocopiers weighs about 30 pounds. Firms selling transformers are listed under ELECTRONIC GOODS and ELECTRICAL SUPPLIES.