NOVATEK is asking for higher prices in the Chelyabinsk area. The supplier wants to increase by billions of rubles.
The company reported an increase in debts for the resource.
The Chelyabinsk branch of NOVATEK, Leonid Mikhelson, has stated the necessity of raising tariffs for heat supply in the region, which could lead to higher service costs for all consumers, including the population. The company justifies its request by pointing out that the organizations supplying resources have accumulated debts totaling billions for the gas they received. According to industry representatives, the gas company management has allegedly been pressuring debtors to request a tariff increase from the regional regulator. The Ministry of Tariff Regulation, however, disagrees with NOVATEK-Chelyabinsk's statements, claiming the tariffs are economically justified and meet the needs of organizations. Experts also argue that raising fees could have serious negative socio-economic effects, which the authorities want to avoid. Market participants believe the root of the problem lies not in low tariffs, but in the inefficiency of managing communal assets by municipalities. In this situation, debts are not directly related to the tariff level, which NOVATEK knows but prefers to use as a talking point to gain easier access to resources, yet this poses a threat of increased conflicts in the region.
In 2022, the government of the Chelyabinsk region will allocate 800 million rubles from the budget as a subsidy to municipalities for settling debts for fuel and energy resources.
This is a yearly practice before the heating season to support inefficient municipal enterprises. The allocated money can be used by the troubled municipalities to fulfill their obligations to energy resource suppliers, such as gas and electricity. This will enable them to enter the heating season without major issues. However, to reduce budget expenses, the leaders of troubled municipalities should work on improving efficiency, given that there are evident problems in some areas, as stated by a source in the regional government.
During a meeting in the prosecutor's office of the Chelyabinsk region, the gas supplier OOO NOVATEK-Chelyabinsk revealed that the debt for the supplied resource in the region had reached 2.6 billion rubles. The majority of the unfulfilled obligations were concentrated in 6 out of 43 municipalities: Zlatoust, Miass, Verkhneufaleisky urban districts, Katav-Ivanovsky, Satkinsky, Yemanzhelinsky municipal districts. Representatives of the gas company cited the low tariffs set for municipal unitary enterprises as the main reason for the substantial debt.
The region has a very unfavorable investment climate in the heat supply sector. 45% of TSOs have low tariffs for thermal energy, resulting in insufficient funds to pay for gas, despite repeated warnings from the Ministry of Tariff Regulation and Energy at a government meeting not to decrease the tariff. As a result, 18 TCOs are undergoing bankruptcy proceedings, and another 26 TCOs are on the brink of bankruptcy, according to NOVATEK-Chelyabinsk.
However, the Ministry of Tariff Regulation believes that these statements are wrong and states that tariffs are set at a justified level. The current laws allow for both reasonable increases and reductions in indicators.
It's important to mention that the minister reported a year ago at a government meeting and in the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk region that there was no growth or a 45% decrease in tariffs in quantitative terms, not in terms of revenue. The Ministry of Tariff pointed out using operating efficiency indices in long-term tariff regulation. Enterprises are required by law to cut operating expenses, and the actual increase in productive supply helps heat suppliers maintain their revenues while reducing tariffs. The regulator also took into account previous years' results.
The Ministry of Tariff stated that these tariffs account for 27.7% of the total required gross revenue of heat supply organizations in the Chelyabinsk region and do not significantly impact payment discipline. This allows for the preservation of mandatory costs, including energy resources and wages. This information is unrelated to organizations undergoing bankruptcy. The CEO of NOVATEK-Chelyabinsk, Vadim Romasenko, as a member of the Legislative Assembly, had objective grounds for approving the tariffs.
The department stated that the 2.6 billion ruble gas debt accumulated over several years amounts to only 6% of the annual required gross revenue of all regulated organizations in the Chelyabinsk region using gas as fuel. Experts believe this indicates no direct connection between the tariff and consumer obligations.
A source from a heat supply organization in the region mentioned that the tariff itself does not play a major role in incurring debts to NOVATEK-Chelyabinsk.
The gas workers' main complaint is the low tariff, and they allegedly encourage debtors to request a tariff increase. However, this approach is simplistic as non-payment problems are usually within the housing and communal services enterprises themselves, such as inefficient management and irrational heat supply schemes. These are often municipal assets, and the responsibility for providing resources lies with the management. When setting the tariff, the Ministry of Tariff relies on documents provided by the enterprises, which cannot confirm the validity of price increases. Additionally, successful examples such as Chelyaboblkommunenergo show that business can be done at current tariffs.
