Siberian generating company won a dispute with Chernogorsk over inflated heat prices

As Kommersant found out, the Siberian Generating Company (SGK) managed through the courts to restore the rules of the heat supply price zone in Chernogorsk. The company managed to conclude a new agreement with the city on the price of heat on more favorable terms. A similar dispute continues in Abakan, whose authorities, despite the order of the local FAS, refuse to sign the updated agreement. As a result, the city currently has neither a heat tariff nor a price formula. It is still unclear how the SGC will index the price there in July.

JSC Abakanskaya CHPP (part of the SGK) won all the courts in a civil dispute over heat prices in Chernogorsk, as follows from the file of the Supreme Court of Khakassia. The prosecutor of Chernogorsk filed a lawsuit against Abakan Thermal Power Plant JSC at the beginning of 2023 with a demand to reduce heat prices in the city. From December 1, the company increased the cost of 1 Gcal by 12%, to 1.95 thousand rubles. According to the prosecutor, such indexation “is not justified and is not supported by any calculations.” According to the plaintiff’s calculations, the increase should have been 9.5%, based on the 2021 agreement between the supplier and the city government.

In Chernogorsk, there is a heat supply price zone (the alt-boiler mechanism allows the investor to recoup the investment), so the price is determined by a formula in the agreement between the city authorities and the company, based on the inflation rate (CPI). But initially, the administration of Chernogorsk entered into an agreement in 2021 with another subsidiary of the SGK – Yenisei TGC JSC. That document contained a special condition about reducing prices in the event of a sharp increase in current inflation. This condition was triggered in December 2022, the prosecutor argued in court, demanding that it be applied to the formula.

SGK insisted in court: the previous agreement with Yenisei TGC JSC is no longer valid, since by the spring of 2022 the company had separated Abakanskaya CHPP JSC into a separate legal entity, which means a new agreement is required (see Kommersant dated January 26, 2023 ). Courts of all instances supported the position of the SGC. As a result, on March 14, the administration of Chernogorsk signed a new agreement with Abakan CHPP JSC. Now the price of heat there will be calculated in a standard way: forecast consumer inflation or forecast index of citizens’ payment plus 3%.

A similar lawsuit continues in Abakan, where in December 2022, Abakan CHPP JSC increased the price of heat by 11%, to 1.94 thousand rubles. But the city authorities, citing an agreement with JSC Yenisei TGC, demanded an indexation of 8%. The Abakan authorities have already lost in the courts of first and second instance. A precedent has been created in the city: in a territory with a heat supply price zone where it is impossible to set a tariff, heat is supplied without an agreement with the heat supply organization on the supply price, which is contrary to the law. The question remains open at what price SGK will supply heat to Abakan from July 1 after the planned indexation of tariffs throughout Russia.

Local tariff regulators behave inconsistently. The State Committee for Tariffenergo of Khakassia has not set a maximum price for an alt boiler house for 2024 for Abakan and Chernogorsk, although it is obliged to do this every year. On March 25, the Arbitration Court of Khakassia ordered the tariff authority to approve this indicator. In January 2023, the Federal Antimonopoly Service for Khakassia opened an antimonopoly case against Abakan Thermal Power Plant JSC. According to the management, Abakan, Chernogorsk and Abakan CHPP JSC “concluded an anti-competitive agreement” in order not to sign documents, which “created conditions for Abakan CHPP JSC to independently (unilaterally) set the price of heat.”

The OFAS ordered the authorities of Abakan and Chernogorsk, as well as JSC Abakan Thermal Power Plant, to “carry out all actions provided for by law to resume operation in the heat supply price zone mode” and sign agreements. At the same time, Abakanskaya CHPP JSC, by decision of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, must stop “abusing its dominant position” and recalculate heat prices. According to current legislation, the mechanism does not include a procedure for a region to leave the price zone (see “Kommersant” dated October 26, 2023). The administration of Abakan, the government of Khakassia, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, the Ministry of Energy and the SGC did not answer Kommersant’s questions.

Stanislav Shubin, author of the industry Telegram channel Teplovichok, believes that it would be fair to transfer the previous agreement in full to the new unified heat supply organization (ETO): the company, by signing the agreement in 2021, took on certain risks, the refusal of which looks strange. “The identified problem of lack of succession between the old and new ETO creates risks for the industry,” he says. “The legislation should include a requirement to prevent such situations. Disagreements regarding the formula and its compliance with the law must be resolved in court between the parties.”

Polina Smertina