There Will Be Fewer Utility Accidents If All Process Participants Act Responsibly

To make Russian heat supply more reliable and safer, it is necessary to change the industry management system and to increase liability of all parties involved in the process of heat supply. Such an opinion was arrived at by the participants of the round-table discussion «Improving Reliability and Safety of Heat Supply Systems».

The country’s utility infrastructure is not only worn out and lacks financing. The participants of the round-table discussion acknowledged the fact that accidents are often caused by low control level, insufficient number of heat supply schemes, heavy network load due to new housing construction, poor condition of facilities operated by Russian Railways, Ministry of Defense and other agencies.

Public authorities take measures to improve the situation, told Aleksei Eresko, the Deputy Minister of Construction Industry, Housing and Utilities Sector of RF, for example, they are constantly monitoring utility accidents, which makes it possible to obtain relevant information on the state of the system and reasons of the incidents. A number of other steps are planned to be made. For example, according to Aleksei Eresko, at present, certificates of the utility facilities readiness are not required to be executed and no sanctions are provided for the absence thereof. This shortcoming should be mandatorily eliminated and to introduce punishments from fines to depriving the owners of the right to use such property, he noted. Provision of full information on the incidents should also be another prerequisite for any given region being included in the infrastructure reconstruction and modernization programs. The Deputy Minister believes that drawing up heating schemes should be transferred from the municipal to the regional level, as municipals just often lack the required competencies.

Nikolay Isakov, the Executive Director of the Russian Gas Society, talked about the offers to improve payment discipline. As he stated, the citizens’ debt for the utility and communal services currently reaches 1.5 trillion rubles, of which over 740 billion rubles are the debts for heat supply.

«This is a systemic problem, and we can not talk about modernization without solving it», Nikolay Isakov considers. However, the expert added that this problem is created to a great extent by intermediaries, that is by management companies, cash settlement centers, concession companies that often fail to transfer the collected funds to the resource providers. 

Russian Gas Society suggests to reduce the number of non-disconnectable heat consumers and to impose subsidiary liability for their debts on municipal and regional authorities, to increase liability of intermediaries, and to seek direct agreements between heat consumers and utility providers; such system in gas supply has led to nearly one-hundred percent payment, Nikolay Isakov gave an example.

In his turn, Boris Gladkikh, a member of the RF State Duma Energy Committee, also told on the legislative initiatives on reforming the heating industry.

«It is necessary to increase liability of all process participants», the deputy thinks. He is sure that the times when management companies could ignore the requirements of laws and regulations will soon come to an end.

 

More

There Will Be Fewer Utility Accidents If All Process Participants Act Responsibly

To make Russian heat supply more reliable and safer, it is necessary to change the industry management system and to increase liability of all parties involved in the process of heat supply. Such an opinion was arrived at by the participants of the round-table discussion «Improving Reliability and Safety of Heat Supply Systems».

The country’s utility infrastructure is not only worn out and lacks financing. The participants of the round-table discussion acknowledged the fact that accidents are often caused by low control level, insufficient number of heat supply schemes, heavy network load due to new housing construction, poor condition of facilities operated by Russian Railways, Ministry of Defense and other agencies.

Public authorities take measures to improve the situation, told Aleksei Eresko, the Deputy Minister of Construction Industry, Housing and Utilities Sector of RF, for example, they are constantly monitoring utility accidents, which makes it possible to obtain relevant information on the state of the system and reasons of the incidents. A number of other steps are planned to be made. For example, according to Aleksei Eresko, at present, certificates of the utility facilities readiness are not required to be executed and no sanctions are provided for the absence thereof. This shortcoming should be mandatorily eliminated and to introduce punishments from fines to depriving the owners of the right to use such property, he noted. Provision of full information on the incidents should also be another prerequisite for any given region being included in the infrastructure reconstruction and modernization programs. The Deputy Minister believes that drawing up heating schemes should be transferred from the municipal to the regional level, as municipals just often lack the required competencies.

Nikolay Isakov, the Executive Director of the Russian Gas Society, talked about the offers to improve payment discipline. As he stated, the citizens’ debt for the utility and communal services currently reaches 1.5 trillion rubles, of which over 740 billion rubles are the debts for heat supply.

«This is a systemic problem, and we can not talk about modernization without solving it», Nikolay Isakov considers. However, the expert added that this problem is created to a great extent by intermediaries, that is by management companies, cash settlement centers, concession companies that often fail to transfer the collected funds to the resource providers. 

Russian Gas Society suggests to reduce the number of non-disconnectable heat consumers and to impose subsidiary liability for their debts on municipal and regional authorities, to increase liability of intermediaries, and to seek direct agreements between heat consumers and utility providers; such system in gas supply has led to nearly one-hundred percent payment, Nikolay Isakov gave an example.

In his turn, Boris Gladkikh, a member of the RF State Duma Energy Committee, also told on the legislative initiatives on reforming the heating industry.

«It is necessary to increase liability of all process participants», the deputy thinks. He is sure that the times when management companies could ignore the requirements of laws and regulations will soon come to an end.

 

More