The Rostov region is among the regions with inflated prices for electricity

The Rostov region is among the regions where the authorities approve illegally high electricity tariffs for the population. This was stated by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation after checking the state of legality in the electricity sector throughout the country. The Regional Tariff Service considers the prosecutor's charges to be unfounded.

The illegal increase in electricity tariffs in the Rostov region is reported on the website of the Prosecutor General's Office. According to the report, the prosecutor's office revealed the fact that unreasonable costs were included in the sales markup of a certain regional energy company. Unreasonable expenses in the amount of 18.4 million rubles. prosecutors calculated “expenses for advertising, remuneration to members of the board of directors, and gratuitous assistance.” After prosecutorial intervention, the Regional Tariff Service (RST) of the Rostov region excluded these costs from the allowance. The prosecutor's office of the Rostov region clarified to Kommersant that the “controversial” premium was established by the RST for Donenergosbyt CJSC.

As reported on the website of OJSC GC TNS-Energo (owner of the CJSC), Donenergosbyt served more than 30 thousand legal entities and 2.5 million residents in 15 cities and 32 districts of the region. On July 1, 2013, the CJSC was merged with Energosbyt Rostovenergo OJSC (its owner is also TNS-Energo), as a result, the property and obligations of Donenergosbyt transferred to the OJSC.

Energosbyt Rostovenergo declined to comment on the prosecutor’s report.

In turn, the PCT practically refuted this message. At a specially organized briefing, the head of the service, Oleg Nikolaevsky, confirmed that Donenergosbyt had indeed submitted an application that contained unreasonable costs. “Such costs were declared by the organization when setting the tariff for 2013. However, during tariff regulation in December 2012, we excluded these costs,” said Mr. Nikolaevsky. He emphasized that the PCT corrected the application without any intervention from law enforcement agencies.

The statement from the Prosecutor General's Office says that during inspections in many regions of the country, facts of inflated prices for electricity were revealed, “which entail a deterioration in the property situation of the population and an increase in social tension.” The Rostov region is also listed among the “at-fault” regions. “The case with Donenergosbyt has nothing to do with the population at all. This was a tariff for the so-called “other consumers,” Mr. Nikolaevsky is surprised.

He said submitting applications with unreasonable costs is quite common. According to his information, annually the PCT excludes about 20% of the costs declared by companies. Last year, when forming the tariff for 2013, the service identified and excluded 87 million rubles, Mr. Nikolaevsky said.

The prosecutor's office has reported about abuses in the regional electric power industry before. Last year, the department checked the activities of Donenergo OJSC (located in the regional property) in terms of monitoring the implementation of the investment program for 2010–2011. During the audit, it was found that the organization included a section in the investment program that did not relate to construction projects. It specified financing in the amount of 270 million rubles, of which 160 million rubles. were spent on the purchase of organizational and household equipment, furniture and luxury cars in the maximum configuration.

Vadim Vodolazov

The Prosecutor General's Office is focused on tariffs