What issues may Russians encounter during the next hot season?
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| [Moscow, Russia /TimeLabPro, 2017] |
Russia's community infrastructure is 60 percent worn out, according to the Accounts Chamber (JV). There's no denying that the networks are in bad shape. And it's possible that the wear evaluation is still conservative. The joint venture also found that Russians pay less for housing and municipal services than the French and the British. The government, in a sense, is pointing out to customers that if they pay a little extra for a shared unit, the problem can be rectified and everything fixed. Otherwise, negative repercussions are unavoidable, ranging from routine system failures to man-made calamities.
According to Natalia Trunova, the joint venture's auditor, the community infrastructure is 60 percent worn out. At the same time, the average monthly utility cost in the nation is around 5,000 rubles (11.5 percent of the monthly wage), which is less than what residents of France and the United Kingdom pay for utility services (14 percent), she added.
The authorities appear to be trying to wriggle out of the issue at the cost of customers. After all, if tariffs are raised to at least European levels, resource suppliers will have more money to invest in infrastructure upgrades. Is this, however, the case?
According to Pyotr Pushkaryov, head analyst at TeleTrade, the notion that Russians pay a lesser percentage of their wages for housing and community services than Europeans is extremely clever. “There is a very large discrepancy between high and low salaries in Russia, in contrast to Western countries,” he said. - Not to mention the fact that their salary is significantly larger in absolute terms than in Russia. After paying for housing and community utilities, an Englishman or a Frenchman will have a considerably larger sum than a Russian.
After paying for housing and community utilities, an Englishman or a Frenchman will have a considerably larger sum than a Russian. By the way, after taxes, the average monthly wage in France is around 2.3 thousand euros (about 200 thousand rubles). People in England currently get around 2.3 thousand pounds on average (about 232 thousand rubles).
Indeed, in many jurisdictions, the proportion of residents' spending on community services is higher than in ours. However, incomes and pensions are greater, and people are wealthier there. They have enough money after making the necessary payments to avoid depriving themselves of anything. In our nation, the situation is different: all levels of government have inadequate resources, and the citizenry is cash-strapped. As a result, the majority of Russians are concerned about the expense of housing and community utilities, according to the "Romir" study.
Utility bills are considered too expensive by nearly a fifth of respondents (19%), and they are just high by another 52%. Only 29% find housing and shared services to be inexpensive. Meanwhile, according to Dmitry Gordeev, a member of the State Duma Committee on Housing Policy and Housing and Utilities' Expert Council, the country's communal infrastructure is worn out by 70%, not 60%.
“In this situation, tariffs should be raised objectively. But not for everyone, he claims, but just for those who can afford to pay more. - It is past time for the government to abandon their tariff-containment strategy. This is how you do it with a shovel. The government needs to figure out how to provide subsidies and better targeted support to people who cannot afford to pay for community services. Simultaneously, some residents will find it easy to pay more for housing and community services. Without more funding, resource employees will be unable to recuperate expenditures, causing service quality to rapidly degrade and an increase in the frequency of accidents. People who have been without hot or cold water for several weeks as a result of accidents will tell you that "it would be better to pay more now, just to have it repaired."
Natalya Chernysheva, a housing and community services expert and director of the People's Control Organization, points out that not all of the money gained by raising utility prices would ultimately go to its intended purpose. Resource employees can set enormous incentives for top executives by raising tariffs rather than spending money on maintenance and enhancements to communal infrastructure.
“If repairs are truly necessary, they cannot be done at the expense of residents, and the state should contribute funds from its budget. In each situation, you must determine why the repair job was not completed sooner, as well as the resource supplying organization's revenue and expenditures. And if she truly cannot manage without the budget's assistance for objective reasons, she must be given it, rather than shifting the expenses onto citizens' shoulders, ”she believes.