The State Duma demanded to reduce prices for servicing gas equipment in residential buildings

“And if they don’t take it, we’ll turn off the gas.” With the attitude of a house manager from Gaidai’s comedy, gas service employees are now walking around the houses and apartments of Russians. They give you blank forms of contracts to sign without prices for services, and then they roll out astronomical bills, which you cannot not pay for – you will be sued. Tariffs for maintenance of gas pipes, boilers, stoves and water heaters have skyrocketed since the beginning of the year. Somewhere by 20-30%, somewhere by 300 times.

The “runway” for prices for gas maintenance was cleared by the Ministry of Construction. Last fall, the department approved new methodological recommendations for calculating the cost of maintenance of gas equipment in residential buildings. The document began to work this year. Yes, initially the goal was good. After Russia was rocked by gas explosions in high-rise buildings, it became obvious that the screws in the gas industry needed to be tightened, checks had to be tightened, and only companies with a license and professionals on staff could be allowed into the market.

In fact, the nuts were twisted. To such an extent that the new Ministry of Construction manual for gas companies turned out to be, as Vyacheslav Volodin put it, rubbery. The price range was stretched like the stomach of a hippopotamus.

Now the cost of a service for citizens can include everything: the work of a super-professional, man-hours (for some reason, the more professional a specialist is, the longer he works), entertainment expenses, travel expenses, and office expenses. Top management salaries, annual and quarterly bonuses, KPI for the “best employee of the year” can also be included in the price calculation for the end consumer. Or you don’t have to include it – the manual allows for any options.

The result is appropriate – the unmercenaries among gas workers could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Prices rushed up. The leader was the Samara region.

“Deputies of the State Duma are receiving numerous appeals from citizens regarding a sharp increase in the amount of such fees,” said the author of the appeal to the Ministry of Construction, head of the IT committee and deputy from the Samara region, Alexander Khinshtein, “In the Samara region, the monthly cost of maintenance of indoor gas equipment has increased by 1 .5 – 3.3 times, intra-house – up to 2.3 times. At the same time, they do not provide any additional services to owners and tenants of residential premises.

The Samara precedent is very symptomatic – in other regions the cost of gas maintenance is also growing. For example, in Moscow and the Moscow region – by 30%, in Sakhalin – by 25-28%, in Voronezh – by 70%.

It is useless to challenge prices: “everything is according to the law,” is the standard answer from both gas workers and local officials. And federal ones, too, by the way.

FAS also sins on the methodological recommendations of the Ministry of Construction. A case was even opened against gas workers in the Samara region. But that was back in February, and it’s April.

Deputy Galina Khovanskaya (SRZP) saw the hand of the Ministry of Justice in the problem.

– This is a document registered by the Ministry of Justice, and with it you can go to court against a citizen. And win. And he will pay 100 rubles, and 200, and 250,” Khovanskaya was indignant.

Citizens pay, by the way, not 100 or 200 rubles. These prices are already outdated. After the rise in tariffs (which are not tariffs at all, since there is no trace of state regulation of prices for gas services), those who previously paid 600 rubles now pay 1,200, Khinshtein noted. Moreover, gas workers bring blank contract forms to people. They don’t have prices. A citizen cannot refuse to sign the agreement – the law obliges him.

– Since when… and why did such growth occur? Can methodological recommendations really be interpreted this way or that way? – Communist deputy Viktor Sobolev addressed Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services Alexey Eresko, who came to the State Duma instead of Irek Fayzullin (the head of the Ministry of Construction is busy with the situation with flooding in the Orenburg region).

The price increase began on January 1, 2024, Eresko explained. Why – he did not explain. But in an attempt to find at least something positive, I turned to the Saratov region. There, the cost of maintenance of in-house gas equipment increased by only two rubles.

– In Saratov, as the speaker said, it increased to 80%! – Volodin intervened, “And according to your formula, you have two rubles.” We need to look at these two rubles for what and for how long.

In the heat of the discussion, Duma members began to blame even themselves. It was they who at one time gave the Ministry of Construction the authority to determine the methodology for calculating prices.

– The question for us is – to whom have we entrusted these powers? – Volodin sent an unambiguous signal to the officials, “Have you forgotten who gave you the authority?” Next time you come, we’ll think ten times whether to give them to you or not.

Communist Party deputy Mikhail Matveev brought to the meeting a letter from a Russian pensioner who complains about extortions from gas workers:

– Over the course of a year, pensioners gain noticeably. Moreover, this is due to the fact that the gas worker supposedly services the pipes and taps in the entrance, and once a year goes to apartments to check for gas leaks. But now a new misfortune has appeared. THAT VDGO. Now one gas worker will walk in the entrance, and another will look into the apartment for two minutes once a year. The pleasure was valued at 280 rubles. And where there is a water heater, there are already 577 rubles. If they follow this path, then soon there will be maintenance of valves, maintenance of taps, pipes, hoses, and so on. Why then is electrical engineering worse? They, too, may want to follow this path, and then the suppliers of water and heat will catch up,” Matveev read out the cry from the heart of an ordinary voter.

The deputy himself called the situation with prices Jesuitical.

Alexander Khinshtein also called for toughness. He sees two options: either return to state tariff regulation in the field of gas equipment maintenance, or redo the Ministry of Construction manual so that gas companies cannot overcharge people.

“Monopolists cannot be allowed to buy new Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces at people’s expense,” said the parliamentarian.

The Duma members also decided that this could not be allowed and approved the appeal to Faizullin unanimously: 382 votes in favor.