Verkhovna Rada Committee for Construction, City Planning, and Housing-Public Utility Economy eyes grounds for raising tariffs for housing and public utility services
09 April 2015, 14:21
People's deputies, representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers, central executive bodies, core public associations engaged in sector of housing and public utility, experts and specialists took part in the meeting of the Committee held on April 8.
Opening the meeting, Head of the Committee Serhii Skuratovskyi noted that the issue was eyed following respective order of Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman to comprehensively study the grounds for raising prices/tariffs for housing and public utility services.
Skuratovskyi reminded that on April 1, new tariffs approved by the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utility Services took effect. The tariffs were raised for electric energy, for imported and domestic natural gas. The Energy Commission decided to suspend the raising of tariffs for heat energy for some time.
Members of the Committee heard the report of First Deputy Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Public Utility Economy Minister Volodymyr Kistion, member of the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utility Services Andrii Herus and other representatives of executive bodies.
Representatives of the ministry and the Energy Commission informed about regulation of prices and tariffs for energy carriers and housing and public utility services as at April 1, 2015; and about the correspondence of set prices/tariffs to the global level and the level of population’s incomes (in terms of percentage points).
The representatives also informed about the level of payments for consumed municipal services by the population in general, as well as by oblasts and social groups in particular. They informed about major mechanisms of payments and elements of prices/tariffs for energy carriers and municipal services, their feasibility, as well as about compensation of raising prices/tariffs for low-income population and protection of unprotected strata of population.
Participants of the meeting expressed their concerns over the situation in the country. They paid attention to the fact that the Committee is receiving numerous appeals from citizens and enterprises interested in feasibility of raised tariffs.
Having heard the information, members of the Committee noted that the issue of feasibility of raised prices/tariffs for energy carriers and municipal services requires deeper examination and analysis.
Participants of the meeting noted that methods of formation of tariffs are insufficiently convincing in a part of calculation of economically feasible level and other elements of the tariffs.
People's deputies also drew attention to insufficiency of information from the State Statistics Service allowing holding detailed analysis of payments by oblasts and social groups.
The Committee approved the decision to establish a workgroup of representatives of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for Construction, City Planning, and Housing-Public Utility Economy and central authorities to collect, analyze and provide control of implementation of decisions of the Verkhovna Rada as to feasibility of raising price/tariffs for energy carriers and municipal services.