Russians owe hundreds of billions for electricity: they are talking about the danger of a utility bubble

Expert Sklyanchuk: “Basically, small and medium-sized businesses do not pay”

Debts for electricity at the end of three quarters of this year exceeded 320 billion rubles. According to the Ministry of Energy, the bulk of the debt was made up of overdue payments with a period of more than one month. The largest debt falls on consumers in the housing and communal services sector – 140.7 billion rubles. Has the population really begun to save even on mandatory payments?

The total debt of consumers in the retail electricity markets in Russia reached 320.5 billion rubles in the 3 quarters of 2023. This debt includes debts of both individual Russians and municipal organizations such as schools and kindergartens. Of the total amount, 216.3 billion rubles are overdue payments (more than one month), which is 15.3 billion rubles more than in the same period in 2022. The remaining amount is funds that were not paid on time, but for which the payment period has not yet expired. For example, a subscriber may pay half of the bill but still owe the other half. The largest debt falls on consumers in the housing and communal services sector (43.9% or 140.7 billion rubles, of which 115.3 billion are overdue debts), the Ministry of Energy reported.

There is always debt for housing and communal services, because some consumers, unfortunately, do not pay on time and accumulate debts, says Ivan Samoilenko, managing partner of B&C Agency. “This amount changes from year to year, but we cannot say that now it is critical. The entire volume of the housing and communal services market in the Russian Federation is about 5 trillion rubles, of which 320 billion rubles is not as large a part as it seems. For example, in the Covid years 2020-2021, the amount of debt was close to 1 trillion rubles. This was a consequence of the fact that the population perceived the moratorium on fines for housing and communal services debts as permission to pay bills at all. The fact that electricity debts are now growing is a consequence of the high consumption season and an increase in tariffs,” continues the expert.

At the same time, it cannot be said that electricity is the most expensive part of housing and communal services. It all depends on the category of consumer. In multi-apartment city buildings, the share of electricity in the bill can reach 50% or more. And in rural areas, where houses are heated with gas, in winter people pay up to 70% of their monthly payments for gas rather than electricity. Therefore, the most expensive item is heat supply. Electricity ranks second in cost.

“The reason for the growth of debt is the general economic situation associated with the rise in prices of energy resources necessary for energy generation, the increase in current costs: fuel oil and gasoline are becoming more expensive. Companies include all this in the tariff,” says Popular Front expert, member of the Public Council of the federal project “School of Literate Consumer” Pavel Sklyanchuk. – If we talk directly about the population, then in fact the level of payments for energy is very high. Mostly small and medium-sized businesses, that is, legal entities and industry, do not pay.”

Let us note that the average Russian family pays 1-2 thousand rubles per month for electricity. The specificity of this communal resource, unlike heat, is that the amount accrues transparently. The person turns on the meter and it begins to generate kilowatts. In this sense, it is convenient for residents to regulate consumption volumes.

Meanwhile, illegal mining is considered to be one of the reasons for the increase in debt for electricity. Indeed, cryptocurrency miners consume huge amounts of electricity, take advantage of low tariffs and do not always pay payments on time. But Pavel Sklyanchuk believes that the role of mining is exaggerated in the growth of total debt. According to the expert, most often industrial mining affects consumption rather than debt.

In turn, Ivan Samoilenko believes that the authorities’ proposal to tie electricity tariffs to consumption volumes should precisely solve the debt problem. The principle will be that citizens who consume more energy will pay higher prices. Therefore, ordinary people who do not have two refrigerators or mining devices in their apartments or who do not have a heated swimming pool in their garden should not be afraid of overpaying. “The majority of our citizens try to consume energy within the limits of the standards; no serious increase in tariffs is envisaged for them,” the expert concludes.