ANATOLY GOLOMOLZIN: EFFICIENT GASIFICATION IS ACHIEVED THROUGH FULL COLLABORATION

The first regulatory contracts (agreements) between FAS, Heads of the Perm Territory, Rostov and Tyumen regions and “Gazprom gas supplying companies were signed on 9 and 10 September 2019

Commenting the event, Deputy Head of FAS Anatoly Golomolzin, who led all preparatory work, pointed out that it is one of the most important breakthroughs in developing gasification in Russia.

He said that “the Perm Territory, Rostov and Tyumen regions are some of the most prepared regions to conclude such contracts”.

“The first regulatory contracts with Tyumen, Rostov and Perm enabled to elaborate on the conditions for collaboration between three parties, FAS - the antimonopoly and tariff regulator, regional authorities, and regulated gas suppliers. Each party acts within its competence, and regulatory contracts provide for long-term cooperation, which brings additional benefits to the parties to an agreement and facilitated development of the economy and the social sphere in regions and Russia in general”, explained Anatoly Golomolzin.

Deputy Head of FAS drew attention to the Tyumen’s experience in this field:

“Tyumen is the first polygon where the main regulatory contract provisions were tested”.

He added that “we shall use the Tyumen’s experience in efficient gasification оэффективнойгазификации – following the State Council, the Government of the Russian Federation recognized the Tyumen’s experience as the best investment practice is gasification”.

Anatoly Golomolzin mentioned that “at the same time, every region has its own specifics, different business-models in terms of the gasification level and performance efficiency. Maintaining a common approach and principles, this specifics should be taken into account on the case-by-case basis”.

“We agreed with “Gazprom” and other gas suppliers, including “Mosoblgaz” and “Mosgaz” that we are gearing to draft and sign regulatory contracts with all regions in Russia. It is necessary to make long-term (5 years) tariff decisions, determine the current and expected results of companies’ operations. All three parties (including FAS, the authorized regional authorities, sales and / or gas transportation companies) begin to work actively. There should be crystal clear what is understood under the resource methods, the algorithm must be spelt out to estimate market indicators for prices on materials, equipment, services, so all regulators – federal or regional – and companies have  identical interpretation”.

Underlining the positive results of the joint efforts, Deputy Head of FAS stressed:

“Efficient gasification is achieved through collaboration between FAS, regional authorities and gas suppliers. Gasification should support the economy of gas supplying companies, solve social issues and facilitate innovative development. Gasification should be completed in those communities, where gas was laid but for some reasons not all consumers were ready for network connection. Network under abeyance must be included into municipal books and records in accord with the established procedure, and gas suppliers should be given a possibility to buyback such networks. What we need is not just to build major and distribution gas networks, we need that gas comes to households, and enterprises, business develops around it to improve the living conditions of the population”.  

“Regulatory contract reflect an understanding how a competitive gas market will be formed, consumers will be able to choose a gas supplier both in on-exchange and off-exchange segments. The relevant drafts of regulatory acts designed to execute the Competition Road Map are either passed or are under discussion at different bodies and departments”, said Anatoly Golomolzin.