OREANDA-NEWS. June 11, 2010. ZAO Uralsevergaz (an enterprise with participations of ITERA Oil and Gas Company and the Sverdlovsk Region) summed up the results of the 2009/2010 heating season. Officially, the heating season ended on May 15, 2010, in the entire territory of the Sverdlovsk Region.

Uralsevergaz delivered the total of 1.724 billion cubic meters of natural gas to enterprises of the housing and utilities infrastructure of the Region to ensure provision of heat and hot water to the population during the season. Despite the unusually cold weather, which caused increased consumption of gas, Uralsevergaz did not interrupt supply of natural gas to the Sverdlovsk Region a single time. All categories of consumers received the necessary and sufficient volumes of natural gas.

While Uralsevergaz fully fulfilled its obligations to supply natural gas, quite many consumers failed to observe their contractual obligations to pay in time for the consumed gas.  By the end of the heating season, the housing and utilities companies paid slightly over a half of the gas (54.6%) they had received. The indebtedness by enterprises of the housing and utilities infrastructure for the consumed gas increased over 2.5 times (by Rub. 2.148 billion) to Rub. 3.549 billion as in the end of the past heating season.

An extremely low paying capacity of consumers during the heating season created a realistic threat of reduced gas supply to the Sverdlovsk Region. Nevertheless, Uralsevergaz managed to ensure continuous gas supply throughout the entire heating season. It used considerable credit resources to do it. 

Because of the critical situation resulting from non-payments by indebted consumers, ZAO Uralsevergaz is unable to continue purchasing the required volume of natural gas to be supplied to consumers of the Region. This is the reason for the Company to introduce limitation of gas supply to non-payers in line with provisions of the Russian Federation law.

The entire responsibility for the limited gas supply rests with leaders of the housing and utilities companies and heads of municipalities who did not ensure appropriate control over payments by such enterprises to the natural gas supplier, as well as over observance of fiscal discipline by management companies and financial settlements centers involved in collection of monetary funds for municipal services from the population and state-financed organizations.

Today, it is obvious that because of inadmissibly high indebtedness by consumers, not only the stability of the current gas supply, but also the timely beginning of the next heating season forthcoming in September of 2010 are threatened.

It is for this reason that ZAO Uralsevergaz once again call on the leaders of enterprises of the housing and utilities infrastructure which failed to fulfill their contractual obligations to pay natural gas, to settle the indebtedness in an urgent manner,  to provide the agreed and financially secured timetables for payments, as well as to store in advance sufficient stocks of back-up fuels (coal, fuel oil etc) to be able to start the heating season in time and to ensure continuous heating during the 2010/2011 heating season.

ZAO Uralsevergaz asks the population to pay their debts for municipal services, to explain the situation with indebted neighbors, as well as to ensure public control over proper use by management companies and enterprises of the housing and utilities infrastructure of money collected from the population which is supposed to settle on bank accounts of suppliers of energy and thermal energy in due time.