Two Ridder Districts: Boiler Station Practically Bankrupt, Enough Coal for Two Weeks

It has long been cold in Ridder; the air temperature has dropped below zero at night for several days. On September 27, there was snow. The entire city is anticipating the heating season. It has already begun in the regional center Oskemen, although it is much warmer than Ridder, Orda.kz reports.

Most residential buildings recently received hot water, which they had not had since May 10. In some areas, residents claim the water is cool and even ice-cold. There may not be sufficient pressure or issues with the preparation of the buildings.

The city issued an order to start the heating season, which Ridder Akim Duman Rakhmetkaliev signed. As the authorities reported, on September 27, after lunch, the Ridder CHPP would come online to provide heat for the residential sector. Most social facilities — schools, nurseries, hospitals — received heat a little earlier. Two boiler units are operating at the heating plant — medium-pressure unit No. 3 and high-pressure unit No. 6. The Ridder CHPP has transitioned for winter.

No Heat?

But it is too early for residents of the Second and the Fourth city districts to rejoice. They will not be given heat today and still have not received hot water. These districts are not served by the thermal power plant but by the boiler station of the Tishinsky mine, managed by L-TVK LLC. The private enterprise was on the verge of bankruptcy and could not complete the repairs on time.

Social facilities in these two districts also lack heat and hot water: two private and state nurseries, a school, a clinic, and a nursing home. Parents say it is cold in the classrooms, they have to turn on heaters at home, and children and adults are ill.

At the beginning of summer, our hot water was turned off, September ended, and there is still no water, not everyone had the opportunity to install water heaters. Also, it is unknown when the heating will be turned on. It is very cold in our apartments, nurseries and schools. I send my daughter to school, I put two pairs of pants and sweaters on her, because she says that its freezing in the classroom. It is even colder in the corridors, it is impossible to be in the cafeteria and the gym. It is also cold in nurseries. I send my son to the Dolphin nursery warmly dressed, the children sleep in pajamas, the teachers turn on electric heaters. The children are constantly sick since the cold weather began in early September. At home, the thermometer shows 19 degrees. At night, we sleep under two blankets, we also turn on heaters. Many people heat water with electrical appliances, this is all additional costs, a load on the electrical network. We are now paying L-TVK, but we have no heating. We very much ask that you quickly get the boiler station up and running and give us heat and hot water,
 says Natalya Svechnikova, a resident of the Fourth District.

On September 25, representatives of the Ridder Akimat visited the Tishinsky mine boiler station, where the enterprise director explained why the heat source had not been brought online.

There is an urgent issue with heat supply. We are intensively preparing together with Kazzinc. We have a delay due to the late delivery of a conveyor belt. The contractor has already started replacing it, and according to plans, the work will be completed by the end of September. The latest date when we plan to supply heat to the Second and Fourth Districts is September 30,
assured the director of L-TVK LLC, Alexander Popov.  

Kazzinc LLC, overseeing repairs at the Tishinsky mine boiler station, also confirmed this.

Now most of the repairs are finished, the boilers are ready for operation, and now they are starting to replace the conveyor belt. We will replace it in three or four days, and according to all forecasts, the boiler station will be launched by Monday, said Dmitry Stefura, manager for energy equipment maintenance and repair. 

Boiler Station

On September 25, the director of L-TVK LLP, Alexander Popov, spoke at a meeting in front of members of the city's public council, Maslikhat deputies, public figures, and representatives of the Akimat. He named another reason why the enterprise, which had been operating properly for 24 years, suddenly halted.

According to Alexander Mikhailovich, it all has to do with legislation. The Tishinsky mine, from which a private owner leases the boiler station, has recently reduced its production volumes and, in turn, the heat energy consumption volume. The Department of the Committee approved the tariff for L-TVK LLP for the Regulation of Natural Monopolies in the East Kazakhstan Region in 2021 for five years. No one knew that the primary heat consumer, Kazzinc, would reduce its costs for heat energy.

The Tishinsky mine is reducing its volumes, it is in the process of closing, they have started to optimize everything. Naturally, we cannot compensate for the share that they had, and the enterprise is starting to incur losses. We are currently in a difficult financial situation. The legislation states that if consumption volumes increase, then as a monopolist I am obliged to recalculate the tariff, but if the volumes decrease, nothing is written about this anywhere. What to do with the tariff? I have addressed this question everywhere - to our Maslikhat, the antimonopoly authority, to the former regional Akim Akhmetov I visited three times, to the Majilis deputies. The answer is always the same - it is not provided for in the legislation. Well, you are legislators, deputies, you should reconsider. In fact, today the enterprise is practically bankrupt, the delays that are currently occurring in the heat and hot water supply are also related to these problems,
 says the director of L-TVK LLC. 

In the early 2000s, L-TVK was chosen to service the water, heat supply, and sewerage engineering networks. Kazzinc leased its boiler station, water intake, and treatment facilities to the enterprise.

We have been serving our consumers normally for all these 24 years. Last year, the mine reduced its consumption, which resulted in a delay in signing the lease agreement. It was signed for us only on December 27 with an expiration date of May 15. I started asking: are you taking your complexes, and will I decide on my networks, or what next? No, hold on: They extended it until June 25, then until September 30. Now, they say, until December 31. There was a meeting together with Kazzinc, we worked a lot with the antimonopoly department, with the city Akim, and came to the conclusion that after December 31, Kazzinc will transfer its complexes to the Akimat, and we will also transfer our utility networks to the state. But right now I need money so that I can buy coal and electricity for three months, and provide people with pay. Now the pay at the boiler station is 140 thousand. So, instead of the 80 people required by the staffing schedule, we are left with 50. I apologize to consumers, but this is not our fault, these are gaps in the legislation, Popov said.

TOO L-TVK is indeed in a precarious situation. Due to the shortfall in funds from Kazzinc, the company failed to implement measures under one of its five investment programs. The Department of the Committee for Regulation of Natural Monopolies in East Kazakhstan region reported that by the end of the year in November or December, a compensatory, i.e. a reduced tariff, will be introduced for the consumers of TOO L-TVK for a year.

This is another drawback for the private sector. Yet, it seems that no one is interested in it anymore. The city administration confirmed that the boiler station, which serves the Second and Fourth districts, and the heating networks will be transferred to the state for management by the Ridder CHPP owner.

Kazzinc extended the lease agreement with L-TVK LLP until December 31, 2024. The boiler station will operate in the same mode for now under the management of the enterprise. After December 31, there are plans for the state to take over the boiler station together with the networks, the management company will be Shygys Zhylu JSC. This will be a single system together with the CHPP. This will not affect the heating season, or residents either. Perhaps, the contract with L-TVK LLP will be extended even until the end of the heating season, so that the boiler station will operate without interruptions all winter. The employees will then transfer to a new enterprise, no one will dismiss them. There will be a documentary transfer of the boiler station from one enterprise to another. The Tishinsky mine has not closed, it has reduced its volumes, it will still operate and remain a heat consumer,
 Ridder's internal policy department head, Kanat Oralbek, said.

Nonetheless, how will the financially exhausted enterprise "L-TVK" be able to manage the boiler station for another three months? According to director Alexander Popov, the coal supply in the boiler station will last for a maximum of 15 days.

Original Author: Marina Dymova