Utility services want citizens to pay for winter heating in summer
Economists reckon this is an attempt to make all of us pay more than necessary. Anatol Launichuk, the head of energy department at the Minsk City Hall, has proposed to equalize utility fees for summer and winter months. It is a common knowledge that currently heating bills are higher in winter than in summertime. The Minsk City Hall official proposes to extend the annual total costs for 12 months, allegedly to help the energy sector.
But, officials do not know who payments are going to be made and how much.
Official: “There will be a payment methodology. It will not be like a certain monthly fee will be charged. This issue is still be studied. All the same, people who have indebted or overpaid their bills will have their total bills recalculated”.
According to officials from the Minsk City Hall, this is not a new idea. Allegedly, Germany and Holland make their bills according to the same methodology. The European Radio for Belarus learned from the Russian media that utility services collect fees from people in Russia according to the same scheme. But most of the media reports in Russia suggest that people are simply conned by the utility services. Under the esimates of the Russian experts, after the total amount is broken down for 12 months, people have been paying 25 percent more than previously.
In the view of economist Siarhei Chaly, there is nothing useful either for people or the energy sector in the proposal of the officials from the Minsk City Hall. He describes this idea nothing more than as an attempt to develop a "gray" scheme which will help utility services to charge people for services that are not delivered.
The economist reckons that officials want citizens to overpay their heating bills in summer in order to subsidize the country's utilities and energy sectors. But he insists that we should pay for the delivered services, not for the promises that they would be delivered one day.
But, officials do not know who payments are going to be made and how much.
Official: “There will be a payment methodology. It will not be like a certain monthly fee will be charged. This issue is still be studied. All the same, people who have indebted or overpaid their bills will have their total bills recalculated”.
According to officials from the Minsk City Hall, this is not a new idea. Allegedly, Germany and Holland make their bills according to the same methodology. The European Radio for Belarus learned from the Russian media that utility services collect fees from people in Russia according to the same scheme. But most of the media reports in Russia suggest that people are simply conned by the utility services. Under the esimates of the Russian experts, after the total amount is broken down for 12 months, people have been paying 25 percent more than previously.
In the view of economist Siarhei Chaly, there is nothing useful either for people or the energy sector in the proposal of the officials from the Minsk City Hall. He describes this idea nothing more than as an attempt to develop a "gray" scheme which will help utility services to charge people for services that are not delivered.
The economist reckons that officials want citizens to overpay their heating bills in summer in order to subsidize the country's utilities and energy sectors. But he insists that we should pay for the delivered services, not for the promises that they would be delivered one day.
