Details of the July indexation of tariffs have been revealed: will Russians afford to pay for utilities
Utility fees will increase in Russia from July. On average, prices across the federal subjects will be indexed by 9.8%. Prices for housing and communal services will continue to rise. It is important to understand that the price increase takes into account only the payment for utilities (electricity, water supply, gas supply), but not the tariffs for the maintenance and repair of housing — this is a separate story, which also costs money. What will a real increase in the cost of housing and communal services cost for citizens' wallets? Can local authorities raise tariffs above the level established by the center?
These questions from MK were answered by experts: Chairman of the Housing Union, member of the Housing and Communal Services Committee of the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry, lawyer Konstantin Krokhin, expert of the project “People's Front. Analytics» Pavel Sklyanchuk and Director of the «Urban Economy» direction of the Institute of Urban Economics Foundation Irina Gentsler.
Sklyanchuk: — Since indexation starts in July, citizens will receive receipts with new numbers in August. Ten percent, based on monthly payments, is 500–600 rubles, again on average. The fee for each family will increase by approximately this amount. Is it a lot or a little — everyone has their own answer, depending on their income. But in Russia there is social support for citizens. Everyone who needs help is protected from rising utility bills. As for the bulk of the population, we must understand: housing and communal services cannot be cheap. If the utilities are cheap, it means the industry is unprofitable, it means the water supplied to houses is of poor quality, pipes break in winter, etc.
— Annual indexation of tariffs is a rather artificial mechanism to contain not only household expenses, but also the income that utility companies may have. This ten percent, of course, is not enough for any investments in the industry or for any infrastructure repairs. Not long ago, the Higher School of Economics showed in a study that if we compare the inflation levels by year and the growth indices of citizens’ fees for housing and communal services, then inflation was ahead of these indices. Over the course of several years, a very significant difference has accumulated in Russia between how much utility resources actually cost and how much people pay for them. Today's average increase of 9.8% does not actually compensate for even these inflationary processes. The population pays less than the real cost of utilities. Still, it is necessary to move to economically justified tariff levels, but at the same time it is necessary to strengthen the protection of socially vulnerable families.
— At a minimum, tariffs should reach the level of compensation for current expenses. Indexation must be no less than the percentage of inflation. Taking into account the price growth that has accumulated in the index over previous years, it would probably now be necessary to introduce indexation of housing and communal services tariffs at the level of 17–20%.
— I don’t agree with my colleague about a fair price. When we talk about the fact that industry enterprises should receive fair compensation, we must put one meaning into this definition. At the same time, many experts say: why should we subsidize and sponsor energy inefficiency? And there are reasons for this. Remember, for example, the energy inefficiency of housing stock, when heat escapes into holes between the panels. A fair price is the right thing to do, but first we need to check the performance of the utility providers themselves. We need to check what makes up this fair price and look at the efficiency of all production processes. But this is definitely not the price that suppliers are talking about today. It needs to be sought, explored, calculated.
— It’s good that we are raising the issue of new approaches to tariff setting. In fact, there is no motive here, so to speak, to let utility workers earn more money. The current situation makes it possible to increase tariffs based on the cumulative effect. If we move to a multi-stage scheme, then the need for calculations and increasing energy efficiency will really arise. While there are no studies, utility companies continue to say: what do you want from us, we already supply services. Therefore, if you decouple housing and communal services tariffs from inflation and introduce transparency into the economic activities of service providers and other market players, you will find out a lot of interesting things. For example, studies may show that housing and communal services are very expensive if you invest in ineffective modernization, and do not approach it, as they say, in a targeted manner. Now, for example, budget loans are provided from the federal level. That is, the regions do not receive subsidies free of charge, they receive repayable money, and this is a completely different principle.
— Yes, such subsidies are not very actively pursued. Our main problem is precisely in auditing and monitoring the condition of the “utility”. In Russia there are no projects or estimates that would allow us to calculate all this. As they say, there is a lot of politics in housing and communal services, but very little economics. When we change this situation, the tariff policy will also change, and then everything will get better.
“There is no government regulation for these services because it is considered to be a market environment. How much the service costs or what expenses will be included in the owner’s fee is all the result of an agreement between the management organization and the owners of the premises in the house. However, a situation has arisen that, in fact, purely market mechanisms have not fully worked, and in principle there is no price competition between management organizations. Our new management business, which came from the Soviet system, from Soviet housing organizations, does not know how to behave correctly in the current competitive conditions, does not know how to communicate with its consumers. As a result, everyone says: let's use the tariff for the maintenance of residential premises, which is allocated by the city administration. This municipal tariff becomes a kind of guideline for everyone. And then, instead of difficult dialogues with a large number of owners, management companies choose a different method of communication. It’s much easier for them to go to the city administration and say: raise municipal tariffs, we don’t have enough money to maintain housing.
I think that approximately the same policy that city administrations pursued before will continue. Somewhere, if a business says that more money is needed, then the administration makes a decision in its favor, and everyone else is simply forced to follow this decision. If the administration somewhere is much more sensitive to the sentiments of its residents, then this decision will not work there. In Russia now the average fee for major repairs is 18 rubles per square meter. Business has been saying for a long time that you need to charge 40 rubles per square meter, and in some cases much more.
— In this sense, there will be no changes from July 1 of this year. The price of electricity will rise a little, and the price of water will rise a little. But the most expensive will still be heating, hot water, and major repairs must be added to this list. Today the average rent in Moscow is 25 rubles per sq. m. meter. It is comparable to the maintenance of houses in other regions. Meanwhile, there are proposals from the Ministry of Construction to increase the fee even more, but not in Moscow, but in those regions where the rates are lower — 12-13 rubles. Therefore, I think that people will see not only an increase in the cost of utilities, but also an increase in the cost of major repairs. Ultimately, the August payment will increase by about 10%. If consumers paid 5 thousand rubles for an apartment, then they will pay approximately 5.5 thousand rubles. If earlier the bill was 10 thousand, now you will have to pay 11 thousand.
— Each bank will quickly estimate the number of clients who will take advantage of this benefit and understand how noticeable its losses are from the abolition of this commission. If the damage turns out to be significant enough, then, of course, banks will find a way to increase some other payments in order to compensate for the losses. Moreover, this will affect a relatively small number of clients. Mainly those people who do not use the online payment system through personal accounts. Another important problem for consumers will be the very fact of confirming that a person is entitled to this benefit — not to pay a commission when paying for housing and communal services. This fact will have to be proven every time to the operator at the bank window, who will accept the payment, wasting time and nerves and creating inconvenience for the queue. And all in order to save from 100 to 300 rubles — the overwhelming majority of commissions are paid in this range. Of course, for some, both 300 rubles and 100 rubles are money that is important to save, but in general it is unlikely that this will somehow significantly reduce the financial burden for people.
— I only have two such pieces of advice. First, if we want to save on utilities, we must reduce the consumption of these services. The second concerns the management, maintenance and major repairs of the house. I will say, based on my personal experience: if you want to control the costs of managing and maintaining your home, then you need to do this yourself. That is, create an HOA, housing cooperative and not blame the management company, but take the situation into your own hands and hire contractors under your own responsibility. This, on average, gives from 10 to 30% savings.
— Indeed, only the tenant himself can conduct an audit of how much he actually consumes and whether he can consume less. When it comes to whether you can make a big payment reduction, a lot depends on how energy efficient your home is. Unfortunately, creating a homeowners' association in our realities is a very heavy burden for people. Statistics show that the number of partnerships is steadily declining from year to year. Why? Because partnerships, as legal entities, actually have a very difficult time surviving. Therefore, we still need to look for some other tools and mechanisms so that the management organization is really interested in meeting people halfway and working to ensure that the house is better served.