Indexation of utility tariffs turned into an increase in the debts of Russians

As expected, the unscheduled December indexation of housing and communal services tariffs by 9% in individual regions increased payments to unbearable values. Fellow citizens simply do not have such salaries and pensions to satisfy the appetites of public utilities. An indignant murmur reached the corridors of power. The State Duma hastily turned to the Federal Antimonopoly Service with a request to sort out the situation with tariffs and utility bills.

Residents of apartment buildings tearfully report that the heating (especially in the cold weather that swept across the country) was out of control, the radiators did not heat, electric heaters were additionally turned on. Which, of course, also raised the cost of electricity.

But the amounts for heat supply were especially impressive. So, in some areas of northern Palmyra, the payment for heating the “kopeck piece” increased from 3,000 rubles in November to 4,100 in December. In the Orenburg region, as reported by local residents, the price of heat suddenly rose from 1,800 rubles to 4,300. And so on – practically throughout the whole of Great Rus’.

In general, it is not difficult to understand the indignation of the deputy corps from the communal lawlessness. In some places, the payment for heating alone has risen to 10-12 thousand rubles a month – 75% of the minimum wage. Although the government decree clearly states that the maximum increase in December tariffs for a communal apartment is set at 9%. Where does their increase in times come from?

As the parliamentarians rightly write in their appeal to the FAS, these problems are quite systemic in nature and “it is necessary to exclude the very possibility of exceeding the size of the allowable increase.”

In the meantime, the authorities are sorting it out, before ordinary citizens the question arises point-blank: how to live on if, on the one hand, food inflation is jammed, and on the other hand, communal workers are grabbed by the throat? We turned to an expert for an answer.

– What to do to tenants who received “letters of happiness” from communal services with obviously overestimated bills? Pay or wait for the results of the FAS investigation?

– Here the choice is small, – says Pavel Sklyanchuk, an expert of the “People’s Front” on housing and communal services. – Even if you do not agree with the accruals, you still need to pay them, and only then appeal to the supervisory authorities. In Russia, about 120 million people use housing and communal services, and if they allow themselves not to pay … The country’s public utilities simply cannot stand it.

– In what structures can charges be challenged?

– We have three main “verifiers”. These are the Housing Inspectorate, the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the prosecutor’s office. It is possible that after verification, some payments will be recognized as legitimate. And if you don’t pay them, you will be penalized.

– But there are amounts that are simply unbearable and unrealistic! How to be with them?

– It seems to me that if they exceed common sense at times, they will deal with such charges very quickly. Perhaps the tenants will not even have time to pay them. If the inspection authorities reveal an overpayment, this money will be returned to the tenants.

– How exactly will the return happen? Specifically money?

– No, in the following months the amount of illegal accrual will be deducted. Depending on the amount already paid, you simply will not pay for a communal apartment for some time, or you will pay much less.

– In the State Duma, the current situation is called systemic, repeating from year to year. As soon as utility tariffs are raised – usually by a few percent, in some regions the authorities are sure to try to rip people off to the maximum. Why is this happening?

– There are many reasons. There are also errors that are allowed in the calculations. Nobody is safe from them. There are also fraudulent schemes in the hope that it will work and the residents will not notice anything. However, there are also objective reasons for the increased growth of tariffs, which for some reason the media do not talk about or write about.

Let’s say and write…

– We have six types of utilities: heat and electricity, sewerage, cold water, gas and garbage disposal. Last year, the government raised utility tariffs twice, by a total of 13%. Thus, it limited the growth of the total payment for housing and communal services. The regions on their territory share this “communal pie” – to which resource-supplying organization and how much to allocate funds for its normal functioning. But the subjects of the Federation have the authority to set deviations from the ceiling at 13%.

– In which cases?

– If the regions have signed long-term concession agreements, for example, for 3-5 years in advance. For example, for the construction of new treatment facilities or the replacement of a heating main. Residents, for their part, also participate in the financing of such investment projects.

The signals that are being received today from all parts of Russia, among other things, may mean that individual regions have taken advantage of their additional powers in this regard. And what will you order them to do if starting this year they start implementing two or three investment agreements?