Since July 1, utilities have risen in price in Russia. Why is this happening? Parsing "features"

Parsing "features"

Briefly

From July 1, housing and communal services tariffs will grow in Russia. Why is this happening?

Housing and communal services tariffs are indexed annually. In general, this is a predictable and normal process. The question is how much they increase in every year.

In 2025, the rise in price of the cost of utilities is very significant - on average in the country by 11.9%. This is higher than in previous years: in 2024, tariffs on average increased by 9.8%, in 2023 - by 8.1%.

There are regions where tariffs will grow more significantly. These are the Arkhangelsk, Kemerovo, Chelyabinsk regions, North Ossetia, Mordovia, Dagestan, Altai Territory. The leader of the Perm Territory - there, the housing and communal services tariffs will increase by 21.1%. In Dagestan - by 17.5%, in the Arkhangelsk region - by 20%.

In fact, the government’s decree is something like a landmark, but in reality, regions can take a tariff beyond the designated index. The indices approved by the government allow the maximum permissible deviations the decision sets the framework, but individual municipalities in specific regions may need more indexation. Moreover, such an excess must be agreed with the Federal Antimonopoly Service. For individual municipalities - from 2.1% to 4.8%. Given these deviations, tariff growth may be higher: for example, in the Perm Territory it can reach 25.3%, and in the Arkhangelsk region 24.8%. ”

Why in different regions the growth of tariffs is so different?

It depends on how much the infrastructure in the region was worn out and what were the indexations of the HCHK tariffs earlier. In many regions - especially in those where today we are observing a significant increase in planned tariffs - for a long time the increase in these same tariffs was much lower than the average value. And, of course, there, the wear of the networks becomes, if not critical, then close to this.

It happens that the infrastructure of the region can no longer cope with the current load - for example, in Dagestan, which has become very popular with tourists. For many years, tariffs there grew more slowly than in the whole country, and now they have to be increased more. The current capacities are simply not enough, and therefore, large -scale investments in the communal infrastructure are needed.

But how can I increase the tariffs recoup the repair of communal infrastructure?

Potentially-yes, but in general, the housing and communal sector is clearly underfunded. An increase in tariffs will make a certain modernization, but there is no need to talk about some full-fledged large-scale modernization.

An important point that should not be overlooked is the personnel question. The housing and communal services sphere since 2020 has been in a personnel hunger. The average salary there is below the average in Russia by approximately 30%. And in order to hold workers, you need to increase personnel costs. And this cannot be done in any way, except by raising tariffs. The more work needs to be done, the more the wage fund is growing, the more tariffs will grow.

It is chronic underfunding of the housing and communal services sphere against the background of increased inflation and high tension in the labor market that leads to the fact that in recent years tariffs have been growing significantly.

The authorities explain this by the fact that the matter is the "rise in the cost of resources." What resources are we talking about? Oil and gas seem to be cheaper.

In 2023 and 2024, an increase in fuel prices is on average slightly higher than inflation. This was due to the peculiarities of the Russian oil industry in the conditions of the embargo by European countries and the need for reorientation to other geographical areas.

Plus, let's not forget about the attacks of drones at the refineries. This creates difficulties in replacing dropping equipment, because in Russia there are difficulties with importing and repair. And, of course, in the moment, especially in the season, this can significantly affect tariffs.

Gas in Russia, especially in the household, is supplied at low prices. These tariffs are lower than they should be in market conditions. And so that these values ​​do not leave much, they are increased.

And it is also necessary to carry out work on current repair - this involves the purchase of building materials, and they value. Naturally, this affects the tariffs. A particularly difficult story with elevators. Due to the departure of many manufacturers from the Russian market, there was a shortage of elevator capacities. Because of this, the deadlines for replacing the elevator are postponed. But sometimes this must be done here and now, and the cost of replacing such equipment has increased significantly.

They write that due to such a noticeable increase in housing and communal services, inflation will grow strongly, and it will not be able to compensate for the lower increase in prices for other services.

No, I don't think so. Housing and communal services, this is one of the components of the same consumer price index, at which we measure inflation, but the influence of this indexation on the general dynamics should not be overestimated.

So far, the total price dynamics is more likely to say that inflation is on the lower border of the forecast of the Central Bank.

Is it possible to evaluate how growth the tariff will reduce the income level of the population? The greatest growth will affect the subsidized regions - for example, the same Dagestan.

The situation, as always, will be uneven in the country. The question is how tariffs are growing in relation to the income of the population. There are tariffs that, even with significant growth, make up a very insignificant share in expenses. And there are those that grow slightly, but make up a significant share in expenses.

Much depends on what the dynamics of nominal income will be. If our expenses on housing and communal services increase to a lesser extent than income, then there will be no significant influence. And for one whose income has not grown, tariff growth will mean a drop in real income and a decrease in living standards. This needs to be evaluated objectively, but this is a big study.

But in general, there is a feeling that in Russia a rather cheap communal car compared to other countries.

In general, we have the total costs of housing and communal services are quite low. On the one hand, we understand perfectly that it is necessary to update the heating networks and other infrastructure elements. On the other hand, by virtue of a certain Soviet heritage, we cannot take and inflame tariffs so that they become market ones - because it will be a significant blow to the wallet of citizens.

At the same time, we have a rather high proportion of non -payments for utilities. It is quite difficult to force a defaulter for these services.

Conventionally, a person does not pay for electricity. What can be done here? Cut the counter and put the seal. But then it will simply be broken and this counter will be turned on again. There is no narrow -kennel way to simply chop off these services - and this is also one of the reasons for the growth of tariffs.

If you do not pay for the Internet, you just turn it off: there is a canalized way to do this. If you do not pay for housing and communal services, it is not easy to disconnect and limit access to utilities: this is the procedure itself is not fast. And after the closure of the data in the Rosreestr , according to the Law of Khinshtein , amendments to the Law “On Personal Data”, which entered into force on March 2023 at the initiative of the head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy of Alexander Hinstein, closed the personal data of property owners for third parties - with the exception of notaries, cadastral engineers, neighbors in the site, spouses, equity holders and tenants. The management company legally cannot receive the owner’s data and start the debt collection procedure. The process is delayed for months. There are no operational work tools, as in the case of the Internet or mobile connection. And often the debtor continues to use the services - and this creates the problem of underfunding.

The problem is that the modernization of communal infrastructure and its working work is possible either for money from the federal budget, or thanks to the indexation of tariffs. All - there are no other options here.

You can try to rebuild the housing and communal services market and make it more marketable. And so that the transition to market pricing does not become great stress for the population, the state needs to subsidize utilities. This is a difficult problem story.

It seems that the housing and communal services is, in principle, this is not a priority sphere that officials care about.

In the current situation, this is not what is a key priority. It is clear that the modernization of the sector is needed - they are trying to find them due to the growth of tariffs. The situation is heterogeneous and differs from the region to the region: somewhere the problem of heating, somewhere-power supply.

For example, in my house there is a problem with the elevator. It needs to be changed, but according to the plan, the replacement is set in only the 2030th year. And now to find funds to replace the elevator, no. There is only the opportunity to change the details so that it is not emergency, dangerous.

And in order to solve this problem, in a good way, tools are required that would allow you to locally provide some additional payments to the appropriate fund that would allow this elevator to change.

It is clear that somewhere there are embezzlement, somewhere-losses due to illiterate management. This is a classic of the state economy, and trying to talk about it as a problem that is easily solved will not work. The solution will still be more or less painful for people.