Yekibastuz: Company Previously Owned by Klebanov and Kan Intends to Raise Heat Tariffs by 228%

The tariff for the population and businesses is proposed to increase by 10%, and for budgetary organizations, more than 3x reports an Orda.kz correspondent.

At the public hearings in Yekibastuz, Pavlodar Thermal Networks LLP, engaged in the transmission, distribution, and supply of thermal energy, was discussed. The LLP's management stated that the enterprise is forced to operate at a loss under the current conditions. 

If we continue to work at the current rate, we will find ourselves on the verge of bankruptcy, Director of Yekibastuz Thermal Networks LLP Anatoly Moisei told city residents.

He says the budget covers the costs of reconstructing heating networks after the 2022 incident that left Yekibastuz without heat. Last year, more than 70 km of heating networks and 95 units of shut-off valves were replaced. More than five km of mains were rehabilitated. This year, the renovation continues.

However, as Moisei noted, these costs should have been included in the tariff.

All this should be be done via the tariff. But for this, the costs must be included in the current tariff. This was not the case, so the budget had to take on this burden,  continued the director of the LLP.

The company also faces cash flow gaps, which could amount to one billion tenge by November. This is due, among other things, to the reformation of the city's heat supply system. 

The CAEPCO company transferred the property to municipal ownership and the CHPP to a subsidiary of Samruk-Energo (Energy Solutions Center LLP). The heating networks are in trust management without a purchase option for Yekibastuzteploenergo LLP.

Private individuals carry out services for producing, transmitting, and supplying thermal energy.

As of September 1, 2024, Energy Solutions Center approved a new tariff in the amount of 6162.44 tenge per Gcal, and our enterprise's tariff remained at the same level, that is, 4084.93 tenge. Accordingly, there is no possibility to buy thermal energy from the station,
Moisei asserts.

The company's management believes that the growth of the final tariff for consumers is inevitable. At the same time, tariffs are proposed to be raised, focusing on budget organizations. 

The main burden today falls on budget organizations that have metering devices. The current tariff for them is 47,701.49 tenge. And the planned tariff is 156.6 tenge. Here the increase is 228%,
Anatoly Moisei clarified.

It should be noted that a similar approach was already used during the previous tariff increase. The increase for budget organizations was 93% - from 25 thousand to 49 thousand tenge per Gcal.

A regional commission will now review Yekibastuz Thermal Networks. Residents, in turn, requested the company use funds rationally, conduct repairs purposefully, and raise salaries for ordinary workers, not the administration.

The head of Samruk-Kazyna, Nurlan Zhakupov, has previously noted that the cause of the 2022 incident was not only low tariff regulation but also irresponsible management. 149 multi-story buildings, 114 private houses, and 15 social facilities were left without heating. 

Expertise showed that the impulse line froze in the CHPP workshop, leading to distortion of the indicators and incorrect actions of the station's technical personnel.

The facility was commissioned 68 years ago. It previously belonged to Forbes list members Alexander Klebanov and Sergey Kan. Samruk Energy later assumed facility management.

Original Author: Alina Adilova