VITALY KOROLEV: OUR TASK IS TO FIND A BALANCE BETWEEN ADEQUATE TARIFFS AND INVESTMENT ATTRACTIVENESS

Refuse tariffs have not been growing in 47 regions of Russia since 1 July 2019

Deputy Head of FAS informed about it as the plenary session of the “Clean Country” Forum and Exhibition on 17 December 2019. The session focused on the first results of fulfilling the “Ecology” National Project.

Vitaly Korolev summed up the outcome of FAS efforts in regulating the tariffs for the services of solid municipal waste disposal for the current year.

For instance, the charges for negative impact on the environment due to solid household waste disposal were decreased upon a FAS proposal, which has already led to tariff reduction.

FAS has also undertaken several measures to ensure the necessary number of sites for solid household waste disposal, and regions can temporarily use them on the fast-track basis till 1 January 2023.

“We understand that if we close a lot of polygons, and it is necessary to transport waste further, it will obviously affect the tariffs towards increasing them. Since the costs for transporting solid household waste reach 60-70 % from the cap tariff of regional operators”, explained Vitaly Korolev.

According to Deputy Head of FAS, by the end of the year the total payment of solid municipal waste disposal services has decreased: in mid-2019 the average costs of services was around 92.5 RUB per person per month; by the end of 2019 is has gone down to 88.95 RUB. At the same time, tariffs are below the average in around 40 regions of Russia.

Regarding issues that FAS has to resolve yet, Vitaly Korolev mentioned registration of lease spending in tariff regulation.

“Since the sector is formed recently, and requires investment support, particularly, purchasing significant volumes of equipment, we plan to make the necessary amendments to regulations. As a result, it will be possible to factor these payments in tariff regulation and use leasing as an efficient tool to restock and modernize техники”, said Deputy Head of FAS.

He also pointed out that the antimonopoly body is in favour of stimulating regional operators towards additional waste sorting for further processing. FAS is working on it under the frame of improving tariff regulation.

Summing up, Vitaly Korolev emphasized a downward trend in complaints from individuals about the tariff size that are filed to FAS.