‘Tatenergosbyt doesn’t earn money from the ERC, we will just have a clear payment system’
The rais of Tatarstan criticised municipalities that have not yet switched to single settlement centre
“We need to analyse what kind of payment discipline they have, how they work with their customers. The housing inspectorate and the prosecutor's office should check them," such instruction was given by the rais of Tatarstan for management companies that have not yet switched to settlements through the Tatenergosbyt ERC (single settlement centre). On 16 January, the problem was discussed at a meeting of the Association for the Promotion of Digital Development. At the meeting, it also became known about the changes in the holding of Kazan Digital Week and the Russian Venture Forum.
“Municipalities have reserves for switching to settlements with the centre”
This time, the meeting of the Association for the Promotion of Digital Development was devoted to the introduction of intelligent systems in the field of public utilities. The meeting was opened by the rais of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, recalling that 2024 was declared the year of scientific and technological development in the republic, and the decade of science and technology is underway in the country. “Our universities should actively engage in the work on the development of science and ensuring technological sovereignty, including in the IT sector," he stressed. According to him, the association plays a big role in this, and today the meeting participants will consider the implementation of three major projects using digital solutions.
The first concerns the work of Tatenergosbyt, which acts as a link between the producer of electric energy, its consumers and the consumers of other utilities services. The company is implementing electronic services for work: personal account, mobile applications, and so on. The creation of the Single Settlement Centre on its basis in 2018 made it possible to increase the level of service for customers, ensure a high level of transparency and collection of payments, Rustam Minnikhanov noted. According to him, the collection of payments in Tatarstan for utilities exceeds 99%, last year the figure reached 99.2%.
“In many ways, this is the result of that the ERC serves 82% of the housing stock of the republic. At the same time, municipalities have reserves for switching to settlements with the centre. We have repeatedly raised this issue, of course, there is a lack of strictness. The housing inspectorate has work to do. This is very important! I appeal to the State Housing Inspectorate, the heads of municipalities: you must strengthen this work!” the rais emphasised.
Seven districts are not connected to the Tatenergosbyt infrastructure
Rifkat Minnikhanov reported in more detail on the work on transferring management companies and resource-supplying organisations of the republic to settlements in the Tatenergosbyt Unified Settlement Center. The president of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan and chairman of the Council of the Association for the Promotion of Digital Development reported that since November 2021, 37 management companies and regional operators, as well as 187 personal accounts, have been transferred to such settlements. But not all districts fulfill this order, the speaker complained:
“Seven districts of Tatarstan remain disconnected from the Tatenergosbyt infrastructure. The issue of concluding energy supply contracts with large enterprises of the republic, which today purchase energy from other distribution companies, also remains open. Despite your instructions and the work done, 13 companies have not switched to calculations. The results of the work showed that today these consumers do not disclose their price parameters under existing contracts for objective comparison with the prices of Tatenergosbyt. We offer these enterprises to work more constructively and openly.”
Commenting on his report, Rustam Minnikhanov instructed the first deputy prime minister of Tatarstan, Rustam Nigmatullin, to take control of the solution of this issue: “Rustam Kamilevich, please take it to work, especially on those criminal codes that avoid by all means the transition to the ERC.” Ilsur Metshin, the mayor of Kazan, announced from the spot that 134 management companies in the city are connected to Tatenergosbyt: “But there is one house, we can't influence them in any way.”
Rustam Minnikhanov instructed to involve the Prosecutor's office of the Republic of Tatarstan and the State Housing Inspection of the Republic of Tatarstan to check such “refuseniks”: “It is necessary to analyse what kind of payment discipline they have, how they work with their clients. The housing inspectorate and the prosecutor's office should check them. Tatenergosbyt doesn't earn money from the ERC, we will just have a clear payment system'.”
Kazan Digital Week on other dates
Rifkat Minnikhanov, making a report on the topic of the meeting, reported that 141 of the 172 instructions of the rais of the Republic of Tatarstan have been executed for today, 22 are in execution, and 9 have not been fulfilled.
Besides, according to him, some instructions remained unfulfilled following the meetings with the Executive Committee of Kazan. He emphasised those related to the integration of Kazan's intelligent systems and regional IS. Also, another instruction has not yet been fulfilled — to create a unified digital system of genetic data, but another speaker told about this in more detail. This is the second project that was discussed at the meeting — the main achievements of genetics. Research in this area should help to find treatment for patients with serious diseases, produce vaccines, and also allow the development of the agricultural sector and close many problems of animal husbandry and crop production.
“Our task is to create a single technological resource with a high level of information security for the joint use of genetic data by clinicians and researchers in the tasks of medical genetic counselling, molecular genetics, bioinformatics, gene therapy, pharmacogenetics, population genetics. The digital platform will help achieve the goals set in federal programmes for the development of genetic technologies, as well as become a digital basis for the development of agricultural genetics," said Elvira Gilmanova, the deputy director general of BARS Group.
The third project was dedicated to Kazan's experience in digitalising municipal services. Dmitry Kremlev, the head of the IT Department of the Executive Committee of the city, made a presentation on Digital Kazan. At the same time, the speaker asked the republic for assistance in creating a digital twin of Kazan. About 200 million rubles are allocated annually for the development of digitalisation of the city, this year an additional 143 million rubles are required. The rais of the republic noted that the Tatarstan capital occupies a leading position in the country in this work.
Rifkat Minnikhanov also noted the initiative to create a world-class scientific and educational centre, which is being created in accordance with the government decree of 2019, whose tasks include the formation of an effective communication system between businesses and science, as well as achieving world-class results of educational, industrial and infrastructure projects. Forty-six organisations have already applied to join the centre.
Tthe holding of the international forum Kazan Digital Week, which gathered 24 thousand participants last year, remains an important issue. However, it may take place a little earlier this year.
“We faced a problem in organising the event in 2024. Due to the BRICS summit, there is no possibility of holding the forum on the usual dates for participants on September 18-20. According to the information received, the arrival of the event organisers at the Kazan exhibition complex is scheduled for September 13," the head of the association said.
Due to the overlap of two events, it was decided to hold Kazan Digital Week 2024 from September 9 to 11 with the dismantling of the exhibition and the liberation of the Kazan Expo venues.
The Russian Venture Forum is also be held this year with minor changes in the concept. It will be held from April 25 to 26, 2024, a day longer than before. The Organising Committee was headed by Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia. This year, the focus of the event is on the development of technological entrepreneurship.