Residents of the region were reminded of the regulation of tariffs for housing and communal services in the Moscow region

The State Duma supports the recalculation of housing and communal services tariffs due to the warm winter

Deputies of the State Duma supported the recalculation of heating costs in a number of regions of the Russian Federation due to the abnormally warm winter. Izvestia reports this.

First Deputy Chairman of the United Russia faction Andrei Isaev said that the decision to make a recalculation was correct, but it cannot be extended to the entire country - the weather was different in different regions. However, in areas where the temperature greatly exceeded climatic norms, the recalculation will be fair.

Communist Party deputy Valentin Shurchanov believes that Russians living in houses without communal meters should not overpay for heating in warm winters. Especially, the parliamentarian noted, when

On average in Russia, up to 20% of the family budget is spent on paying utility bills - due to the low incomes of the population.

LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, in turn, emphasized that he asked the Ministry of Construction to cancel the summer indexation of tariffs. “Since management companies saved on gas this year, we can help our citizens save too,” said the head of the Liberal Democrats.

The first deputy chairman of the Duma faction of A Just Russia, Mikhail Emelyanov, is convinced that the influence of a warm winter must be taken into account when calculating payments - however, the main factor in pricing in housing and communal services is not the weather.

On March 1, the Ministry of Construction told Izvestia that the cost of heating in Russia may be revised due to the abnormally warm winter. Residents of Russian regions, where payments for housing and communal services are made in small installments throughout the year, rather than using communal meters, can count on a reduction in the cost of services.

“In the event of a warm winter, the entire overpayment is taken into account during the annual adjustment based on meter readings,” the ministry added.

In Moscow, the amount of savings in certain months can be about 200 rubles. Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Housing and Communal Services Pyotr Biryukov said earlier that the abnormally warm winter made it possible to consume 20% less heat and gas compared to usual indicators.

The topic of payments for housing and communal services worries Russians - at the end of February, Russian Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services Vladimir Yakushev told Izvestia that depriving Russians of utility services for non-payment is an extreme measure of influence on people.

According to him, now the total debt for housing and communal services in Russia is more than 570 billion rubles. To get away from this figure, “civilized methods” are needed. In particular, explain to people why it is important to pay for heating, electricity and hot water.

“The service has been received and it must be paid on time,” the minister explained. He also stated that other people suffer because of non-payers. For example, in apartment buildings the debtor cannot be disconnected from resources, as this will affect his neighbors. He called for the process to be regulated, adding that he is not a supporter of “repressive measures”, as he understands that situations in life are different.

“Those who pay honestly should under no circumstances suffer in this situation. This is my tough position,” Yakushev emphasized.

Forecasters have been calling it “pink” and “cherry” throughout the winter of 2019-2020, because of the color of the weather map associated with abnormal warming. Over almost a century and a half of the history of meteorological observations in Moscow, only seven “cherry” winters have been recorded. The warmest occurred in the early 1960s. Forecasters believe that winters will become warmer in the future.

Residents of the region were reminded of the regulation of tariffs for housing and communal services in the Moscow region

In the Moscow region, tariffs for housing and communal services will increase from July 1, the average index of growth in citizens' payments for utility services in the region is 4% and does not exceed the inflation rate, reports the press service of the Committee on Prices and Tariffs of the Moscow Region.

“The annual increase in prices (tariffs) of resource supply organizations occurs in accordance with the main parameters of the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation for the corresponding year. For the Moscow region, from July 1, 2020, the average growth index for citizens’ payments for utility services has been established at 4.0%. For the fourth year in a row, the average increase in citizens' payments for utility services does not exceed the inflation rate. We will maintain this trend in subsequent years,” said Natalya Ushakova, head of the Moscow Region Committee on Prices and Tariffs, as quoted by the press service.

She explained that, according to the law, the amount of payment for utilities (cold and hot water supply, heat supply, sewerage, gas and electricity supply) is regulated by the state. Tariffs for utility resources are set and approved by regional government bodies, in the Moscow region - by the Committee on Prices and Tariffs.

The state does not regulate the payment for the maintenance of residential premises of owners in an apartment building; it is determined by the owners of residential premises at a general meeting, depending on the design features of the apartment building, the degree of physical wear and tear and the technical condition of the common property, the material explains.

According to Ushakova, information on approved prices (tariffs) for resource supply organizations is publicly available on the official website of Mosoblkomtsen. At the same time, organizations of the public utility complex and subjects of natural monopolies are required to place in the public domain information about their activities and prices (tariffs) for regulated goods and services and markups to these prices, and about the main indicators of financial and economic activity.

“The Committee on Prices and Tariffs of the Moscow Region constantly monitors the standards of information disclosure by regulated organizations in order to eliminate economically unjustified costs and prevent misuse of investment resources included in tariffs,” Ushakova emphasized.

She added that the difference in housing and communal services tariffs in various municipalities of the Moscow region is due to their heterogeneity: the number of people, the length of networks, their deterioration and, as a consequence, the size of the costs of their maintenance. In addition, when setting tariffs, the features of the technological process of production and transportation of utility resources, as well as the difference in the volumes of their sales, are of significant importance.

In order to transition to unified tariffs in the public utilities sector, municipalities are creating unified guaranteeing organizations in the field of water supply, sanitation, and heat supply, which provide the population with high-quality services at economically justified tariffs set at a unified level for a city district or municipal area.

“The State Housing Inspectorate of the Moscow Region has the right to check the payment calculation and, if violations are detected, to apply administrative measures. We, within the framework of our control powers - in cases of the use of unestablished tariffs or their overestimation - apply penalties directly to organizations,” concluded Ushakova.

Rising prices for utilities in the Moscow region: how tariffs will change in July 2018>>

The list of works and services is required

Section 3 of the Management Standard provides for the obligation of managers to provide owners with a draft list of services and works for approval by the owners.

Also, in order to confirm the need to provide services and perform work provided for by the draft list of services and work, the management organization, partnership or cooperative, at the request of the owners of premises in an apartment building, are required to submit an inspection report of the technical condition of the apartment building, as well as other documents containing information about the identified defects (malfunctions, damages), and, if necessary, conclusions of expert organizations.

As a result, if the manager has provided you with a calculation without specifying specific work, then we request a draft list of works and services, as well as inspection reports, which will indicate the need to perform certain works, the presence of defects in common property, etc.

The article will be useful: Who is responsible for leaks of the foundation, walls into the basements

How are tariffs determined?

What is the system for setting tariffs for housing and communal services? Management company tariffs - what are they?

Every day, each of us uses services that have become an integral part of our lives. Such benefits of humanity include the use of electricity, water supply, sewerage, cleaning, improvement of areas adjacent to the house, repair of the building in which we live.

Each type of work is measured in certain units. Each unit of services has a cost, and this unit is the tariff. Thus, a tariff is a system of payment rates for a specific service.

One-time service services

Natalya Chernysheva: “Increasing housing and communal services tariffs can cripple the industry by reducing payment collection”

And at the same time, the Ministry of Construction is discussing an important problem: welding of garbage chutes in apartment buildings

Housing and communal services tariffs in Russia are still increasing from July 1, 2020, by an average of 4 percent: the initiative to cancel indexation, which was previously submitted to the Ministry of Construction, was not approved. Meanwhile, according to Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services Maxim Egorov, during the coronavirus restrictions, housing and communal services enterprises lost about 70–80 billion rubles. The reason is a decrease in payment collection, which experts attribute to the deterioration of people’s financial situation and the abolition of penalties for late payment. According to specialists from the NP Housing and Public Utilities Control, in April the level of collection of payments for the services of the complex fell by 30–40 percent.

Is it reasonable to raise tariffs in such a situation? Natalya Chernysheva, director of the Organization of People's Control, told the Moskovskaya Gazeta correspondent about this, as well as many other aspects of the problem.

— Natalya Yuryevna, will an increase in tariffs lead to additional cash flows into the industry?

- Is not a fact! If collection of payments has decreased, according to the most optimistic forecasts, by 30–40 percent, then how can raising tariffs by 4 percent save the situation? But there are also more pessimistic assumptions about a drop in payment collection: I saw a figure of 63 percent and even up to 90 percent. And here the question arises: if many people, for obvious reasons, find themselves in a difficult financial situation, how will raising tariffs force them to pay for housing and communal services more carefully? It is difficult for them to pay either low or high tariffs. Therefore, I assume that the indexation of tariffs from July 1, 2020 can only further reduce payment collection.

The situation may be aggravated by the return of contributions for major repairs - they were canceled for three months, and I personally have not heard anything about the extension of this decision. If this happens, the payment will become “heavier” by another 1-2 thousand rubles, and at a time when it is already difficult for people to pay.

— Was there an alternative to tariff indexation as a means of financial resuscitation of housing and communal services enterprises?

— I believe that to improve payment discipline it is better to use carrots rather than sticks. For example, you can introduce incentive government subsidies for good payers. For everyone, regardless of family income. Practice has shown that reducing the amount in the payment bill helps to increase the collection of payments: having seen the reduced amounts in their housing and communal services bills, even those citizens who initially planned to postpone payment, nevertheless paid on time.

“This will require additional expenditures from the state treasury, and considerable ones at that. The budget won't collapse?

- It will require it. However, it seems to me that a state that calls itself social should not shift all costs to citizens, especially in a difficult economic situation. We all understand that the tariffs were not indexed because of a good life, but the economic well-being and solvency of the population should be assessed at the same time. In the end, there must be a forecast of the result, but so far the incoming data suggests that the problem of non-payments cannot be solved by raising tariffs.

— Isn’t the Ministry of Construction thinking about this situation?

- Can not say. But I know for sure that the Ministry of Construction is thinking about welding garbage chutes in the entrances, and building new houses without garbage chutes at all...

— Is the issue of the functioning of a garbage chute in an apartment building at the level of the federal ministry, and not at the general meeting of apartment building owners?

“And yet, the federal ministry is seriously discussing the initiative of a number of social activists to preserve garbage chutes in residential buildings. The need to seal garbage chutes is explained by unpleasant odors, possible unsanitary conditions and the danger of fires. Another rather strange argument is the impossibility of separate waste collection if the house is equipped with a garbage chute. We have many houses, primarily five-story buildings, that do not have a garbage chute, but, unfortunately, this does not yet motivate people to divide the garbage into several categories and take out several buckets.

However, the government staff supported the initiative, and the Ministry of Construction must, by August 1, 2020, evaluate the possibility of transferring the garbage chute to an optional element of an apartment building. I still hope that such a radical decision will not be made, because first we need to conduct a series of experiments. But something tells me that so far the results can only indicate the inappropriateness of such measures. And if residents have problems with the garbage disposal, this is not a reason to fix it completely.

— There are standards for maintaining a garbage chute in an apartment building...

- Certainly. The management organization should monitor this: wash it once a week, clean it. Regarding separate waste collection: I wonder why someone decided that waste from general garbage chutes cannot be sorted and recycled? It’s possible, and how! Only this should be done centrally, at waste processing plants, and not at waste incinerators. If the zabbaleen (garbage collectors) in Cairo can manually sort for recycling more than 85 percent of the garbage coming from all over Cairo and the surrounding area, then it is even easier to do this in special factories. Or, for example, the La Chureca landfill near Managua - there are unfortunate people living right on this landfill and sorting. Fortunately, a waste processing plant was recently built nearby, and many people moved there from the landfill to work normally.

“But we need to somehow accustom people to separate waste collection.”

- It is necessary, but not in such ways. Any normal person, when forced by such a barbaric method, will simply take everything out, throw it in one pile and compact it further! And he will be right to some extent, because the measures of motivation should be different. As I see it, it’s a carrot, not a stick. I think people should be taught to separate waste collection from childhood, and perhaps some kind of financial incentives should be used. Which ones and to what extent is a debatable question. And welding the garbage chute can only aggravate the problem, but in no case solve it.

Nizhny Novgorod tariffs refused to be frozen due to their frostbite

The initiators of the slander against the regional authorities to the Prosecutor General's Office were State Duma deputies Valery Rashkin and Sergei Obukhov. According to them, an unreasonable increase in tariffs for housing and communal services was recorded in 25 regions. Moreover, according to official data, bills for general household needs immediately increased 10 times.

Nizhny Novgorod housing and communal services are not going to be sad

“We ask you, within the framework of your competence, to check the legality and validity of the increase in prices for utility services by resource supply organizations, while respecting the rights of an indefinite number of consumers of these services, as well as the compliance of these actions of housing and communal services organizations with antimonopoly legislation,” the deputies wrote in the appeal. In addition, it contains the opinions of third-party experts who noted the vicious practice when resource supply organizations shift their own losses caused by ineffective management of enterprises onto the population.

“It is important to separately note the need to check the subjects of natural monopolies in the housing and communal services sector, organizations of the public utilities complex, in respect of which, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, prices are regulated, as well as other organizations in the industry with a view to reaching an agreement leading to the establishment and maintenance of high prices for utilities.” ,” emphasized Valery Rashkin .

In the Nizhny Novgorod region, where they have already withstood the siege of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, they say that such proposals are of an election nature, and the previous “freezes” that occurred in 1995-1997 froze the regional economy so much that it still cannot recover.

“The voluntaristic statements of many heads, the desire to be good to citizens and not raise tariffs have led to the fact that investors are not coming to these territories today, the housing and communal services sector is not developing. Because there are no tools to do quality work,” said OZS vice-speaker Alexander Tabachnikov, citing the lessons of the past, apparently having forgotten about the recent promises of United Russia, of which he is a member, to monitor the rise in tariffs.

Alexander Tabachnikov wants new promotions

In the meantime, according to the second vice-speaker of the regional parliament Vladislav Egorov , they are behaving uncontrollably.

“Tariffs for housing and communal services are growing every year, but the quality of these services is not improving. At the same time, the government is suspending the indexation of social payments and benefits. During the crisis, we proposed to establish a moratorium on increasing tariffs for housing and communal services, to sort out the pricing of these tariffs, because we have a decision from the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia that the Regional Tariff Service of the Nizhny Novgorod Region set economically unjustified tariffs for electricity.” – Vladislav Egorov and demanded to check the activities of regional service companies. First of all, TNS-Energo, which in the winter of 2020 was already targeted by the All-Russian Popular Front.

“The fact is that the funds included in the tariff are spent not on updating and purchasing new equipment, repairing networks, but on other purposes,” noted the deputy chairman of the OZS. – I just spent about 30 million rubles, included in the energy tariff, on billing services. Therefore, during the moratorium, it is necessary to check the validity of tariffs for electricity and other housing and communal services.”

But the opposition was not heard. The party in power in the regional parliament was well prepared for the rebuff and even represented the opinion of the trade unions. An organization that fights for the rights of ordinary people suddenly spoke out against the “freezing” of housing and utility tariffs, some parliamentarians joked and shrugged. Governor Valery Shantsev also spoke out against it, although he defended the unpopular decision of calls to think about the poorest.

“We can’t do this even if we really want to. This is beyond our power. We need to talk about social protection of those who cannot pay economically justified tariffs. If we have economically unjustified tariffs, we will never get the required quality of work in the housing and communal services sector,” explained the head of the region.

Valery Shantsev promises social protection

The resource workers, who have been supporting the governor’s favorite hockey team “Torpedo” for the past five years, were not left without protection: “It should be profitable for the owners of resource supply organizations to be involved in this business, otherwise their place may be taken by non-professionals in this area.”

As a result, 27 deputies were against the initiative of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, 11 were in favor, and 5 abstained. Political strategist Roman Ambartsumyan called the last meeting of the OZS a dispute between populists and pragmatic realists. According to him, the increase in tariffs is actually equal to the inflation rate, and this value cannot cover the colossal costs of housing and communal services.

“In the thermal power industry alone, the level of pipe wear in different areas ranges from 60 to 85 percent. Most of our boiler houses still have valves from the USSR era, which have served for 30-35 years and have long since exhausted their service life,” Ambartsumyan . – If there is a tariff freeze, we will get winters in which there will be so many gaps that a catastrophe will occur, for which the real authorities will be responsible. You can say anything populist. 99 percent of the population will support freezing, except for those who work in the thermal power industry.”

Nizhny Novgorod residents are against rising tariffs, but trade unions are for it!

Meanwhile, the regional branch of the ONF, which is currently preparing its opinion on tariff policy, unexpectedly became an ally of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. As for Marina Dobrunnik, the difference between tariffs within the social norm and above it is 78%, although a year ago it was two times lower. And due to the lack of calculation methods, electricity costs for households have increased by up to 80%, depending on the number of residents. 43 Nizhny Novgorod HOAs did not agree with this approach and demanded through the court to review the accrual system. The topic of tariff growth will likely become one of the central ones at the next interregional forum of the ONF, which will be held in Crimea.

Pravda PFO continues to monitor the growth of tariffs and the development of the situation in general.