Asan Darbayev told about the tariff policy in the municipal sphere at the CCS site.

Today, at a press conference in the Central Communications Service under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Asan Darbayev spoke about the tariff policy in the utilities sector carried out by the Committee for Regulation of Natural Monopolies of the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

At the beginning of his speech, Asan Darbayev said that 1,247 entities operate in the field of natural monopolies, which provide about 2,000 services regulated by the Committee. The Committee also regulates the activities of 71 subjects of socially significant markets.

"The new approaches to the formation of the utility tariff are based on the main postulate - to ensure the interests of consumers, i.e. the validity of tariff changes, improving the quality of regulated services and predictability," the Head of the DCRNM continued. 

Investments in the housing and utilities sector play an important role in ensuring the interests and well-being of citizens, as they allow improving the technical condition of assets, minimizing the risks of emergency situations, increasing the reliability and quality of services provided.

"So, the expected volume of investments for 2015-2021 in the housing and utilities sector (electric power, water supply and sanitation, heat and power) is more than 800 billion tenge," the Head of the Tariff Regulator said.

In January 2020, as part of the instructions of the Head of State, the Committee restrained the growth of utility tariffs for the population of the country.

Asan Darbayev: "In fact, a lot of work has been done in this direction. The planned increase in tariffs was supposed to be an average of 15.5%, but it was only 0.5% on average in the Republic."

The largest increase was in electricity, due to an increase in the marginal tariffs at the stations, which were approved by the Ministry of Energy.

At a time when the whole world was gripped by a pandemic of coronavirus infection, unfortunately, our country did not stand aside. For the period of the state of emergency in Kazakhstan, the Committee, on behalf of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, has reduced tariffs for the population in the Republic by an average of 7.4% since April 1 this year. As a result, the population saved 1 billion tenge in just one month.

"During this period, monopolists were also advised not to allow consumers to disconnect from utilities due to debt," Asan Darbayev stressed.

The head of the DCRNM: "The Committee constantly monitors the activities of monopolists. Only for 10 months of this year, an administrative fine of 1.11 billion tenge was imposed on monopolists for violations of the legislation on natural monopolies, 429.81 million tenge has already been collected from them to the state revenue."

The DCRNM also pays special attention to monitoring the fulfillment of obligations by monopolists. Every year, the subject is monitored for the implementation of investment programs and tariff estimates by the subject. Failure by the subject to fulfill certain obligations, for example, for modernization and development, which the subject assumed when receiving the tariff, entails the introduction of a compensating tariff by the Committee, which means the return of undeveloped funds to consumers.

"The analysis of the implementation of tariff estimates for 2019 allowed the monopolists to approve temporary compensating tariffs for a total of 12.4 billion tenge. In this regard, this has led to a reduction in tariffs for the population in a number of regions of the country, " Asan Darbayev said.

In addition, the overpaid money for heat is returned to consumers annually, taking into account the actual outdoor temperature during the heating period.  According to the results of the last heating season, monetary amounts in the amount of about 737 million tenge were returned to consumers.

 

Also, the Head of the Department did not ignore the tariffs of the CIS countries and Europe. He noted that in Kazakhstan, tariffs in the housing and communal services sector remain one of the lowest in comparison with them and gave specific examples.

The head of the Committee on Regulation of Natural Monopolies shared no less good news, saying that in 2021, an increase in utility tariffs for the population is not expected. Also, I focused on the principles that the DCRNM adheres to when forming tariffs for 2021.   

Further, Asan Darbayev spoke about how the gas tariff has developed in the capital and elaborated on its structure. As you know, it left 34.6 tenge per cubic meter (including VAT), which eventually came out below the previously predicted level (45 tenge).

The head of the department also spoke about the factors affecting the formation of tariffs.  

Asan Darbayev also dwelled in detail on the topic "Orphan networks", which is relevant for today.

"As of today, it is planned to transfer 10,646.98 km of utility networks and 2,677 objects, as well as 3,220 km of ownerless networks and 307 objects to the trust management of natural monopolists. For example, 861.19 km of water and sewer networks and 10 facilities in the Atyrau region, 726 km of gas pipeline networks in the Zhambyl region and 824 km in the Mangystau region have already been transferred to the trust management of the subjects. The work on the transmission of networks will continue, " he said

As part of ensuring the transparency of the tariff formation process, in addition to introducing feedback mechanisms with the population, the Monopolist information Base is functioning and improving, which provides absolutely everyone with access to tariff estimates and investment programs of monopolists at any time of the day. This will allow everyone to get acquainted with the draft tariffs that the subject offers for approval.

At the end of his speech, Asan Darbayev spoke about the active work carried out by the Committee for Regulation of Natural Monopolies of the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to fulfill the main instructions of the Head of State in terms of tariff policy aimed at ensuring transparency of tariff formation and strengthening the fight against overestimation of prices and tariffs for goods and services of natural monopolists.

"For this purpose, at the end of last year, a roadmap was approved aimed at implementing these tasks and providing for 5 directions, which include 39 measures formed to strengthen work in this direction," the Head of the State noted.

He also assured that the DCRNM will always adhere to the policy where the interests of consumers are above all.