On July 1, Minister of Regional Development Igor Slyunyayev held a meeting on reining in rises in utility rates with his deputy ministers, the heads of the Federal Agency for Construction, Housing and Utilities, and the heads of structural divisions of the Ministry of Regional Development and the Federal Agency for Construction, Housing and Utilities.
The planned increase in tariffs proposed by the natural monopolies came into effect on July 1, which has resulted in higher prices for utilities services. The increased utility tariffs will appear on the bills for July which Russians will receive in August.
In accordance with a presidential instruction, within the period of five years from 2014 the average annual increase in utility bills of private individuals in Russia should not exceed the rate of inflation.
The Federal Tariff Service, the Ministry of Regional Development and the Federal Agency for Construction, Housing and Utilities are monitoring how much people are paying for utilities services, what tariffs are imposed, utilities consumption standards and the social safety net (housing subsidies). On the request of the Minister these monitoring activities will be stepped up from July.
The ongoing monitoring shows that the rise in housing and utilities costs in Russia could average 11.14% by the end of the year. According to a forecast by the Federal Tariff Service, these payments could rise by 12%-15% in 889 municipalities across the country and in 366 municipalities by more than 15%. This affects, in particular, municipalities in the Volgograd Region, the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Komi Republic, the Perm Territory, the Moscow Region, the Republic of Karelia, the Amur Region, the Kaliningrad Region, the Vladimir Region, the Tyumen Region, the Omsk Region, the Kurgan Region, the Tver Region, the Sverdlovsk Region, the Orel Region, the Arkhangelsk Region and the Stavropol Territory.
Igor Slyunyayev said that an instruction should be issued calling on the heads of Russia’s constituent entities to prevent aggregate utilities bills from exceeding the threshold level set by the President, and to make recommendations with regard to adjusting consumption standards of housing and utilities services in line with the requirements set out in federal legislative acts. The Minister of Regional Development has also advised regional leaders to reinforce social protection efforts for low-income families in order to prevent higher utility bills from hitting family budgets.
Mr Slyunyayev warned that prosecutors will be involved in assessing decisions taken by regional and municipal authorities in constituent entities with an expected increase in utility bills of over 12%.
Source: Ministry of Regional Development
