OREANDA-NEWS. August 15, 2011. The 11th Arbitration Appeal Court (In Samara) pronounced legitimacy and reasonableness of the 11.6 Rubles “turnover” fine imposed by the Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Ulyanovsk Region (Ulyanovsk OFAS Russia) upon “Gorodskoi Teploservice” Ulyanovsk Municipal Unitary Enterprise, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.  

The fine was imposed after OFAS recognised the fact of “Gorodskoi Teploservice” committing an antimonopoly violation. On 25th June 2010 Ulyanovsk OFAS Russia investigated the petitions of “Venets”, “Luch”, “Pulsar”, “Severnoe” and “Vector” Homeowners Associations found that “Gorodskoi Teploservice” violated Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”.

Actions of “Gorodskoi Teploservice” affect hot water supply to citizens, which is an especially important social field, where pricing is fully regulated by the government agencies and local self-government bodies. In February 2010 “Gorodskoi Teploservice” sent additional bills for heat energy consumption that were not provided for by the law; in other periods the company included network losses in the heating payment. OFAS issued a determination to “Gorodskoi Teploservice” to stop non-statutory charging of “Venets”, “Luch”, “Pulsar”, “Severnoe” and “Vector” Homeowners Associations.

Earlier Ulyanovsk Regional Arbitration Court, the 11th Arbitration Appeal Court and the Federal Arbitration Court of the Povolzhie District (in Kazan) supported the position of Ulyanovsk OFAS Russia that “Gorodskoi Teploservice” violated the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”. After the company lost at Courts, it recalculated the payments of the Homeowners Associations.

However, “Gorodskoi Teploservice” continued judicial proceedings regarding the penalty imposed by Ulyanovsk OFAS Russia upon the fact of the violation. The 11th Arbitration Appeal Court also confirmed legitimacy of the sanction.

“Making non-statutory charges for heat losses in the hot water supply systems, “Gorodskoi Teploservice” infringed the interests of citizens. It is essential that we were able to assert the OFAS position at Court. Hopefully, the administrative sanction will achieve its goal and in the future there will be much fewer instances of abusing market dominance by economic entities”, said the Head of the OFAS Department of Goods Market, Marina Stepanova.