OREANDA-NEWS. January 10, 2013. Dmitry Medvedev: Good afternoon, colleagues. A new year has begun and we are meeting today to discuss prices in the housing and utilities sector. Everyone attending this video conference knows that this is a delicate issue, first of all for the people, for our citizens. Electricity, heating and other housing comforts are what people need every day. Their mood and ultimately their assessment of the performance of the authorities, both federal and regional, depend on the efficiency of the utility services. This is the most relevant issue. According to polls, over 50% of people said that housing and utilities are the most important issues for them. These are the most pressing concerns. Everything else that is described as relevant in the media and on the Internet pales into insignificance compared with housing and utilities. I’d like our officials to remember this.

Let’s get down to the issues on our agenda today. What issues are of concern to people? People are above all concerned about the rise in tariffs and the discrepancy between the quality of services and what they cost. Of course, people also complain about the negligent attitude of the municipal authorities with regard to these issues.

Today, we are talking about prices and rates. Nevertheless, considering the number of Russian regions which are communicating with us, there have recently been several outrageous cases when entire towns, communities and residential buildings simply froze, and were left without heat and water. This happened recently in Tuva and in several other Russian regions. I will not name all of them because everyone knows what I am talking about. These incidents are still being investigated, and those who are responsible must be punished accordingly.

And now I would like to say a few words about prices and rates. Obviously, rising prices for housing/municipal utilities services are not always motivated by objective factors. Only some prices, including water, heat, gas and electricity prices, are regulated at the state level. Contractual municipal utilities prices are stipulated. Prices tend to increase most of all in this sector. As a rule, people believe these price hikes are unfair. At any rate, these increases need to be checked. Obviously, people should not suffer from this. We should not just leave people to deal with this themselves, and at the mercy of housing/municipal utilities companies.

The Government is supposed to provide the necessary utility networks and to ensure the transparent work of managing companies and home owners’ partnerships. Of course, we talk about this every day. A lot of issues remain here, including the system for managing multi-storey blocks of flats. I will not repeat all existing problems. But anyway, we must combat crime in this area, including fraud, which, unfortunately, are quite frequent in these companies. And, of course, law enforcement agencies must do this. But regional authorities and administrative agencies should not forget about these tasks either. I would like to ask all of you to remember this.

January is always a complicated month, in part because of the introduction of new prices, in addition to weather conditions. Frankly speaking, this is the reason why I have called this teleconference. Price increases, if any, should be cost-effective. And, most importantly, the people should comprehend the allocation of extra revenues being derived through price hikes, and they should be able to see that housing/municipal utilities services have started functioning better. And the people should also know how this will influence their neighbourhoods and residential areas. This is perhaps the most important thing, and this is our common goal.

Colleagues, I am calling on all of you, including federal officials and regional leaders. You must monitor the state of all payments, and you must prevent price hikes in excess of preset standards. Moreover, you must prevent unjustified differentiation in districts and municipal entities, unless this is stipulated by regulations, and unless this is motivated by current conditions. This is inadmissible, and this is especially irritating to our people. Let’s discuss precisely this issue. First, I would like the heads of departments to say a few words. Mr Slunyayev (Addressing Minister of Regional Development Igor Slunyayev), you have the floor.

Igor Slunyayev: Mr Medvedev, colleagues. The multi-faceted problem of municipal utilities prices and services has four aspects which have a significant impact on society's attitude towards municipal utilities companies. First of all, of course…