Russia has decided to abandon paper utility bills

The risks from this initiative are named: possible costs when going to court

The bill, which proposes to change the form of sending notifications on bills for housing and communal services services from paper to electronic, was approved by the State Duma Commission for ensuring the housing rights of citizens. An alternative option for sending payments electronically is possible if there are applications from the owners. Experts told MK who benefits from this document and what the Russians risk when implementing it.

The State Duma proposed amending the Housing Code in order to inform Russians about payments for utilities and major repairs in electronic form, rather than in the usual paper form. The document has already been approved by the relevant committee for construction and housing and communal services. This means that the adoption of the document is not far off.

However, independent experts disagreed on what the effect of implementing this proposal would be. “This is a very correct initiative, since the owner will be able to choose in what form he will receive the payment document,” says Polina Gusyatnikova, senior managing partner of the law firm PG Partners. — The proposal to deliver payments electronically does not at all negate the fact that a paper version may exist. Therefore, only those who want it and write a corresponding application will be able to switch to the electronic version.” For those who cannot or do not want to accept receipts electronically and pay for them, payments will remain paper. Therefore, the lawyer is sure, this solution does not pose any risks for citizens at all, but, on the contrary, will optimize document flow and save resources due to a reduction in the number of paper forms.

As the expert of the project “People’s Front” recalled. Analytics” Pavel Sklyanchuk, this is not the first attempt by the authorities to switch to electronic receipts so that they can be issued through the GIS housing and communal services platform. However, so far, in his opinion, neither citizens have matured to such a step in terms of their digital culture, nor the companies themselves, which are not so advanced as to issue all invoices and accept all payments electronically. “I would single out three categories of Russians who really need electronic receipts: firstly, these are citizens who do not live in their own property, but are located outside the city, in another region or even country,” the expert noted. “This service is very convenient for them. Secondly, these are environmental activists who call for saving paper and taking care of trees. The third group is young homeowners who use any digital services and are ready to use the same opportunities when paying utility bills.” However, from the point of view of other consumers, paper receipts are a more traditional way of obtaining information and are safer from the point of view of improper charges. Today, if the owner sees that he has received questionable or erroneous charges, he takes the archive of receipts, checks for their payment and goes to court. The magistrate accepts this as evidence and makes a decision in favor of the citizen. If a citizen uses the electronic method of issuing documents, he will have to notarize printouts from his personal account, Sklyanchuk warned.

“I have a negative attitude towards such initiatives – this is a vulgar understanding of digitalization, when they try to shove it wherever possible,” the chairman of the Housing Union, member of the housing and communal services committee of the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry, lawyer Konstantin Krokhin enters into the debate. “It is easy to see a certain material interest in this proposal. Those who propose this project are interested in cutting costs by eliminating the obligation to provide paper payments, although this is now guaranteed by the Housing Code.” However, the desired convenience cannot be achieved for everyone. Despite the fact that the Internet has existed in our country for 30 years, its penetration into certain segments of the population – for example, among pensioners, the elderly, people of pre-retirement age and everyone who, for various reasons, is not on friendly terms with technology – leaves much to be desired the best. According to statistics, the involvement of citizens in the use of GIS housing and communal services is less than 3%. We can say that up to 10% of users will be able to easily master this technology. And most of them will experience difficulties, irritation and other negative emotions. As a result, the proposed innovation could lead to increased tension in society, an increase in debt, and a feeling that citizens are again being dragged into some kind of adventure, the expert is sure.