Gas resupply waiting for 100k from Putin: plan for 10k homes corrected in Tatarstan

There is money, but there is no gas at home?

The federal further social gas supply programme for private houses hasn’t yet gained momentum among rural settlements of the republic. According to official data, nowadays about 2,300 houses have been connected to gas whereas the claimed coverage in the programme is 18-19,000 private houses.

The operator of the Tatarstan social gasification programme Gazprom transgaz Kazan reported on the works done for 759 million rubles with the total cost of the programme equal to 2,6 billion rubles to the government of the republic. In other words, a third of the budget has been spent on the social programme. Though as early as summer Tatarstan residents submitted over 16,000 applications, now their number reaches more than 20,000.

Does it turn out that there is money but there is no gas at home? Why is it still hard for the country people to provide their homes with gas? What stopped the coming of the heavenly gas abundance?

President of the country Vladimir Putin announced the launch of a free further gas supply programme last May. The goal at that moment was to provide all residents of regions provided with gas with the possibility of connection to the gas transmission network by late 2023. For this purpose, gas needs to be supplied to the borders of land parcels of private houses gratis, then residents themselves have to pay for laying the networks inside the house and buy necessary equipment. The first stage must be done until 2023, the second one — until 2030.

The adoption of a regional social gas supply programme counting the number of houses entitled to gas supply is a must for a Russian region to participate in the programme. Gazprom transgaz Kazan that is responsible for the whole process became the operator. Head of the company Rustem Usmanov claimed earlier this year that the programme covers more than 18,000 houses and said that “at the end of the year this number will be much bigger.”

Who pays for free gas supply

The intrigue whether the gas monopolist will carry all the costs on free gas supply in regions or share it with consumers dissipated after the programme was approved. Two financing sources were chosen in Tatarstan — own money of Gazprom transgaz Kazan and tariffs. So the united operator of further gas supply allocated about 1,4 billion rubles on the programme. and another 1,19 billion rubles come from Tatarstan consumers.

As Realnoe Vremya was explained by vice head of the Tatarstan State Committee for Tariffs Liliya Borisova, there has been a special surcharge to the tariff on gas transportation to the end consumer in the republic since this year. According to her, the surcharge is 32% of the average tariff on gas transportation for end consumers of Tatarstan. As a result, the price of gas has tripled since 1 July — up to 203 rubles instead of 65 rubles per 1,000 cubic metres.

After starting to use tariff money, the government of the republic started to carefully control how the regional social further gas supply programme is implemented. Gazprom transgaz Kazan weekly provides a report on the completion rate. According to official data, as of 7 October, citizens submitted 20,959 applications. To compare, about 16,000 were submitted by late July. Apparently, country people became more active because of the onset of cold weather.

More than 5,300 homes don’t want to be connected?

The contract signing campaign is gaining traction at the same time. Gazprom transgaz Kazan has increased the number of signed agreements from 11,000 to 13,000 since summer. Laying distribution networks of the last ditch to the fence is going ahead of schedule. According to the Tatarstan State Council for Tariffs, the gas pipeline has been laid to the border of the land parcel of 7,548 houses. However, then the programme stalled — gas started to be supplied in 2,297 households. It turns out that more than 5,300 houses provided with all the infrastructure close at hand cannot or don’t want to be connected to the blue flame gas. Moreover, they will formally be considered as provided with gas because the pipeline has been laid to them.

So the social gas supply rate is less than 24% in 15 municipalities. It is Arsk, Cheremshan, Nizhnkemaks, Pestretsy, Bugulma, Spas, Bavly, Aksubay, Menzelinsk, Yelabuga, Tetyushi, Rybnaya Sloboda, Mamadysh, Aznakay, Agryz districts, the tariff committee said. At the same time, there is a high rate of houses provided with gas in Kukmor District (72%), Buinsk (57%), Apastovo (56%), Baltasi (52%), Drozhzhanoye (50%).

Moreover, the Tatarstan government allocates money to compensate for the expenses to provide private houses with gas. A one-time subsidy of 80,000 rubles has been paid to low-income citizens since 1 March (veterans of the Great Patriotic War, pensioners, large families, people with disabilities). According to the Tatarstan Cabinet of Ministers’ decree No. 173, the subsidies are spent to develop a project and do installation and assembly works in the homeowner’s parcel and buy gas equipment — cookers and furnaces.

The subsidy is paid after the house is provided with gas and all confirming documents. But a handful has taken an advantage of it. As the press service of the Tatarstan Ministry of Labour and Social Protection said, nowadays 453 low-income families are entitled to the subsidy. If we count it, 32,2 million rubles have been paid from the budget. Band-aid solutions in the programme have been repeatedly criticised at federal level. In the end, the country’s President Vladimir Putin ordered to give 100,000 rubles of subsidies to low-income citizens to buy and connect necessary equipment, which will accelerate the gas supply connection rate. It is unclear if the one-time Tatarstan payouts of 80,000 rubles are going to be cancelled. The press service of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection said that official documents haven’t yet been received from Moscow.

It is hard for country people to splash out 100,000 at once

Country people’s inability to pay up to 100,000 rubles for the pipeline in their parcel and buy gas equipment is the main obstacle to the wide distribution of social gas supply.

“There is no money. People don’t have money to splash out such a sum,” head of the Department of Housing Utilities and Gas Re-Supply of Arsk District Ayrat Shaykhutdinov explains the low activity of rural people. “They simple don’t go, that’s it. Everybody has been given an announcement, representatives of rural settlements went door-to-door, they don’t go. Letters about the possibility of receiving a social subsidy for gas supply works have been handed over, placed in common places.”

The interlocutor of the newspaper confirmed that only one in five homes claimed in the programme has been resupplied with gas in the district. According to him, the low activity is seen not only in Arsk District but also “in half of the republic.” How do they do without gas? “Like in the past, with logs and electricity,” he said. Shaykhutdinov expressed his hope that the situation will change for the better with the launch of 100,000 rubles of subsidies from Putin.

Prices with a safety margin: who earns on social gas resupply

Another problem is that network laying is outsourced to private contractors whose prices vary from 45,000 to 100,000 rubles. They can hardly be called reasonable — nobody explains why the cost of services differs so much, what is in the price sheet and why laying several metres of a pipe costs 20-30,000 rubles. The price lists aren’t controlled, homeowners themselves note. And it turns out that not people but contractors are benefiters of the programme.

For instance, Arsk District is within the area of responsibility of Sabygaz company (services Arsk, Rybnaya Sloboda, Tyulachi, Saby districts). According to one of the managers of Sabygaz, mainly 5-6 contractors work them.

“They have documentation for this. They provide licences, workers, copies of certificates,” he explained.

The plan includes 10,066 homes until 2023

The press service of the united operator Gazprom transgaz Kazan told Realnoe Vremya that the low rates of social gas delivery are related to the absence of house or land documents.

“Nowadays 20,500 citizens of Tatarstan have applied for the social gas delivery programme, but a part of houses hasn’t yet been included into the programme mainly because of the absence of house or land documents,” the company told our newspaper. “14,500 houses meet the criteria for gas resupply among the applications that have been submitted. It is planned to complete all gas resupply works till the end of the year according to a schedule.”

According to the operator’s information, the total and item-by-item schedules were updated this May. They envisage that 10,066 houses must be supplied with gas until late 2023. The potential of gas delivery is still assessed at more than 18,000 homes.

“Today the republic is one of the biggest gas consumers in Russia. The region is 99,5% provided with the blue flame gas, which is supplied to more than 1,5 million users, 22,000 industrial and agricultural enterprises. A colossal job is done to reach 100%,” the operator added. It should be added that the May correction of the gas delivery programme didn’t turn out to be the last. It was “fixed” again just recently, interested sides haven’t received the final version. In a word, one should hurry and submit an application and don’t put it on the back burner. Winter is ahead again.