TRANSPARENT AND BALANCED TARIFF POLICY IS ESSENTIAL

Said Deputy Head of FAS Alexei Dotsenko at the concluding Collegium of the State Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan on Tariffs

Prime-Minister of Tatarstan, Alexei Pesoshin; Heads of Tatarstan Ministries and Departments, representatives of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, NGOs, Heads of municipalities took part in the Collegium in Kazan on 22 January 2020.

The meeting was opened by Alexander Grunichev, Chairman of the State Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan on Tariffs: “The size of tariffs is important for everybody: both from a social aspect – for the population and from an economic one – for organizations, whereupon the main aim of our activity is to protect the interests of the population and achieve the balance of interests between resource consumers and suppliers”.

Deputy Head of FAS Alexei Dotsenkopraised achievements of the State Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan on Tariffs, and presented a view of the antimonopoly body to the event participants on improving the antimonopoly and tariff regulation associated with digitalization of the electric power industry.

Alexei Dotsenko emphasized: “The electric power industry as one of the most technological sector was practically the first to follow suit of digitalization. A transition to digital electrical substations, creating functional “digital twins of enterprises” – are already our reality. Therefore, the first-priority goal is to improve the antimonopoly and tariff policy, taking into account the fundamentals of the digital world”.

FAS representative talked about digital future of antimonopoly and tariff regulation on a short-term horizon. It concerns a set of measures drafted by FAS to automate control in tariff decision-making in the electric power industry: “federal tariff traffic lights”, an interactive map of prices and tariffs, automating consolidated balance forecast in the digital form, and introducing costs benchmarking in water supply, water drainage and heating supply.

“Digital solutions that we are now implementing in the antimonopoly and tariff regulation will give full data coverage, transparency and the quality of decision-making in the tariff field, and will facilitate prompt responses by the antimonopoly bodies if violations are exposed. Ultimately, first beneficiaries of FAS measures will be consumers because use of digital approaches will help not only enhance the quality of services but also keep prices down”, concluded Deputy Head of FAS Alexei Dotsenko.