The draft law "On Amendments to Article 2 of the Federal Law "On State Regulation of Electricity and Heating Tariffs in the RF" aims to make electricity and heating tariffs predictable and controlled. The State Duma will review the draft law submitted to the Duma by a group of deputies on February 13, 2002. Deputy of the Yabloko faction, Mikhail Zadornov, Deputy Chairman for the Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes authored the draft.

According to the draft law, the tariffs of natural monopolies (both of federal and regional levels) should be changed once a year, which should be fixed in the draft federal and regional budgets. Tariffs may be changed only in extraordinary circumstances. The draft law also obliges federal or regional governments to make changes to the draft budget for the current year, provided that these changes arre adopted by the State Duma or regional legislative executive authorities.

According to the authors of the draft law, such a mechanism will increase the stability of budget policies in Russia and the liability of the federal and regional executive authorities for their decisions on changes to electricity and heating tariffs.

Yabloko thinks that the unpredictable increase in tariffs can adversely affect Russia's economy. "An unplanned increase in tariffs by natural monopolies, which is not envisaged by the budget, will obviously lead to inflation growth and rising social tension and can, when combined with other unfavourable factors provoke an economic crisis in the country," noted Zadornov.

Yabloko's amendments to the law "On the Fundamentals of the Federal Housing Policy" are also aimed at transparency and restriction in tariff growth in the housing and communal services sector. These amendments will be discussed by the Duma at the end of February.

See also:

Housing and Community Services Reform