THE ANTIMONOPOLY SERVICE OPENED A CASE AGAINST RUSSIAN RAILWAYS

FAS exposed elements of fixing monopolistically high price for heating energy in the form of steam

The Antimonopoly Service received a complaint from “Rikwest-Service” Ltd. about signs of violating the antimonopoly law by Samara Area Section of Kuibyshev Heat-and-Water Supply Directorate — a structural unit of the Central Heat-and-Water Supply Directorate — a branch of “Russian Railways” OJSC: a sharp increase of prices for heating energy in the form of steam for “Rikwest-Service” Ltd.

The claimant is a company that renders laundry and textile products treatment services to “Federal Passenger Company” JSC and clearing services to municipal and commercial organizations around Russia, including Samara and the Samara region.

Production technology used by “Rikwest-Service” Ltd. is based exclusively on steam.

“Russian Railways” OJSC supplies heating energy in the form of steam to “Rikwest-Service” Ltd. from a boiler-house in Samara, which is on the balance sheet of “Russian Railways”.

Having investigated the complaint, FAS has found that since 1 January 2019 “Russian Railways” OJSC has increased the prices for heating energy in the form of steam by 34% in comparison with the previous period.

“As the amount of the heating energy generated by the boiler-house remains practically unchanged, the categories of buyers and sellers also have not changed, there are elements of violating the antimonopoly law in the part of imposing monopolistically high prices for heating energy in the form of steam for “Rikwest-Service” Ltd. because analyzing steam pricing FAS concluded that the costs entered in 2019 price exceed the costs  entered in the previous periods, while the market environment has not changed”, pointed out Deputy Head of FAS Vitaly Korolev. “The first case hearing is scheduled on 20 June 2019”.