What threatens the unscheduled indexation of housing and communal services tariffs: the debts of the population are breaking records

December 1 – new price increase

The debt of the population for housing and communal services continues to grow: plus 30 billion rubles a year. In general, the amount of debt of Russians increased to 767 billion rubles. Further more. Let’s not forget that another indexation of tariffs awaits payers this year. From December 1, cold and hot water, electricity, heat, gas and garbage disposal will rise in price. The ceiling on growth, as government officials assure, will not exceed 9%. True, it is difficult to believe their words. So, for example, according to the law, it is impossible to index twice a year, but, as we can see, in reality everything is different.

The debts of the population for housing and communal services have grown over the past year from 738 to 767 billion rubles. The debts of citizens jumped most significantly for garbage disposal – by 31-38%, and for gas – by 14%.

Yes, the increase in debts was less than a year earlier. Then, from July 2020 to July 2021, debts increased not by 30, but immediately by 51 billion rubles (from 687 to 738 billion). But this year, an unscheduled December indexation will be added to the planned July indexation, which may already lead to a further increase in debt.

Although in the past two years, the debts of the population grew quite strongly, in connection with which the public utilities sounded the alarm: if the collection of payments was not raised, the industry was threatened with a systemic crisis, a lack of funds for household services and communications, says Ivan Samoylenko, managing partner of B & C Agency.

“In the past two years, the debt has increased, as many Russians perceived the moratorium on fines and late fees as permission not to pay utility bills at all (this was a support measure against the background of the pandemic). But the situation, as we can see, has returned to normal,” the expert continues, “By the end of the year, the debt is unlikely to exceed 1 trillion rubles, since payment discipline is generally observed by the population.”

Meanwhile, Rosstat does not disclose the structure of the accumulated debt – which is new, and which is more than three years old and can be classified as irrecoverable, not to mention the average amount of debt, which is also not made public. The composition of the debtors is also unclear: these are the same individuals who did not pay earlier, or new citizens, said Pavel Sklyanchuk, an expert on housing and communal services of the Popular Front.

“Without this information, it is impossible to formulate systemic measures to reduce debt. For example, there are wealthy or status categories of persistent non-payers. Information periodically appears in the media that some official or artist has accumulated a huge amount and is recovering through bailiffs, although it is clear that the person has money, says Sklyanchuk. – In general, the growth of debt is equal to the indexation of tariffs. Taking into account the decrease in the purchasing power of citizens, we can expect that next year the amount of debt will increase by 9% – the same ones that will be raised in December tariffs.

Statistics are a very tricky thing. You can manipulate the numbers, summing up some specific conclusions, but it is clear that after the winter indexation, the debt of the population will increase – this is unequivocal, the chairman of the Union of Housing Organizations of Moscow, a member of the Committee on Housing and Utilities of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation Konstantin Krokhin is convinced.

In his opinion, the limit of the population’s ability to digest the increase in utility tariffs has been exhausted. “Conscientious payers do not neglect their duties while they can. People are trying to save as much as possible, because it is not clear what will happen next with their income. The population chooses the tactics of saving on everything. If earlier housing and communal services were always obligatory for payment, now they have faded into the background. Medicines and products came first,” he says.

The interlocutor of “MK” noted that as soon as the tariff grows, say, by 7% (in a number of regions), the debt of the population increases by 7-8% (1 percent – error). Accordingly, if tariffs are indexed by 9%, then non-payments will increase by about the same amount.

“From high stands, everyone is saying that the maximum indexation in 2022 will not exceed 9% and after the December increase, tariffs will not be touched until the summer of 2024. But is it? In Russia, there is a federal law, which states that tariffs for housing and communal services should not increase more than once a year. The right to establish deadlines, procedures for execution is given to the government. The government, using this right, says that in 2022 indexation will take place in two stages. It turns out that by their actions the government changes the law. No one will give guarantees that in 2023 the government will not use this right again,” summed up Krokhin.