Housing and communal services - what is it? Housing and utilities. Quality and cost of housing services

The housing and communal services system is one of the key economic sectors in the country. It covers a large industrial and technical complex. Demand is always high for its services and products. Let us consider in detail the features of housing and communal services. Decoding of the abbreviation will also be indicated in the article.

General information

The housing and communal services system includes public, residential buildings, transport, operational and other facilities. All of them form a complex socio-economic complex. The state of infrastructure facilities and directly the habitat of citizens depends on the effectiveness of its activities. Housing and communal services - what is it ? This is primarily an independent economic sphere. Its key task is to meet the needs of citizens and organizations in the services through which normal working and living conditions are ensured.

Problems

Housing and utilities (housing and communal services) is an area in which many pressing issues are being addressed. Many of them worsen with the onset of cold weather. In what areas does the housing and communal services work ? The decoding of this abbreviation speaks for itself. The key areas of this area is to provide the basic resources of the population and the organization - electricity, water, heat. In some regions, the situation is quite complicated. The most acute security problems are in Koryak Autonomous Okrug, Magadan Region, Kamchatka, and Primorye. In some regions, only 60% of fuel was imported. Aging funds is another urgent problem in the housing and communal services. What is the physical deterioration of utilities know in every region. All these problems require an immediate solution.

Housing and communal services of the city of Moscow

Despite the fact that the metropolitan region is considered the most prosperous in the country, and there are some actual problems. Key issues relate to housing and communal services financing . What is the lack of money for the industry? This is primarily a lack of operational equipment, workwear for workers, low salaries. For a small salary, no one wants to work. Accordingly, the industry employs predominantly unskilled employees. According to officials, the constant deficit at the moment is about 700 million rubles. The funds that citizens transfer in the form of a rent can only cover the cost of utilities . At the same time, this amount does not include the costs of maintaining and servicing engineering and communications networks. That is why the industry only works in emergency mode. There is simply no money for preventive measures.

Housing and communal services financial problems

What is debt for the sector in question? It is a source of the non-payment chain that is present in almost all industries. The key reasons for the difficult debt situation are:

1. Long-term underestimation of MO levels of population payments in conjunction with budget insolvency. It was expressed in the inconsistency of the established standards regarding the costs of repair and maintenance of the housing stock and engineering infrastructure and regional values ​​in the formation of the budget.
2. Sequestration and non-reimbursement of funds allocated in the late 90's. to the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the Russian Federation .
3. Chronically increasing defaults for actual consumption during a price adjustment period.
4. The very slow pace of installation of water and heat metering devices is held back by the executive structures of the Moscow Region and the organizations that they exclusively provide services.
   
5. Imperfection of the tariff scheme, systematic change in prices for fuel and energy resources.
6. A high level of receivables for consumed services by organizations receiving funding from budgets.
7. Lack of contractual and economic interaction with service institutions in municipalities on the basis of municipal orders in accordance with articles 72 and 71 of the BC.

Effects

Territorial authorities are far from always capable of fulfilling their obligations. This has led to widespread administrative coercion of performers and contractors in violation of applicable law. The control over the production and provision of high-quality services to citizens, the validity of the established tariffs, has significantly decreased. Inadequate funding explains the lack of interest in the formation of HOAs. The inability to fulfill budgetary obligations, the lack of transparent and effective procedures for setting and adjusting tariffs make the sphere unattractive for private investors. This indicates a systemic crisis both in the industry as a whole and separately in the regions. The solution of the problems is possible by applying the program-targeted method.

Ways to Get Out of the Crisis

The main work on the formation of a program for solving problems lies with the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the Russian Federation. First of all, it is necessary to improve the composition and structure of financial relations within the industry with the requirements of a market economy. It should be noted that part of the activities began back in 1997. So, in the late 90s, the process of transition from free or almost free provision of housing services and housing to paid by citizens, in accordance with the quality, was launched. The main objectives of the events are:

1. Providing the population with living conditions that meet quality standards.
2. Reducing the costs of service organizations and, accordingly, tariffs. At the same time, the quality of the services provided should remain high.
3. Transition of the entire industry to self-sufficiency.
   

Sector transformation

Having outlined the directions of reforming the housing and communal services, the government has developed the following ways to achieve its goals:

1. Improving management, control and operation structures.
2. Transition to contractual relations, development of competition, providing the end consumer with the opportunity to influence the quality and volume of services, introducing a competitive selection system for serving organizations.
3. Improving calculation schemes, setting higher rates for excess housing, differentiation of payment in accordance with the location of the object and the quality of housing.
4. Decrease with the subsequent termination of appropriations from the budget, elimination of cross-subsidization.
5. Improving the system of social protection of citizens. It involves streamlining existing benefits, strengthening the individual focus of allocated funds.
6. Raising tariffs to economically sound indicators, determined by competitive selection of service organizations.

Social Security

It consists in the prevention on the part of regional bodies and structures of territorial self-government:

1. Constraints on improving subsidy programs for low-income families.
2. Unreasonable deterioration in the quality of services compared to those provided for under the employment contract.
3. The introduction of unreasonably high tariffs.

Tariffing

Housing and communal services is considered one of the most expensive economic sectors. Here wasteful heat and electricity, water, and other resources are consumed. The housing and communal services company is often not able to cover the costs with established tariffs and norms. At the same time, pricing policy in the sector under consideration acts as a regulatory mechanism between producers, users and the municipal budget. The latter provides financing for the most expensive areas of the industry. The basis of pricing policy should be a set of measures aimed at encouraging producers to reduce losses, and consumers, in turn, to rational use of resources. Payment for services today is in accordance with the tariffs. Standards are calculated at cost and established profitability. General rules for determining these indicators are subject to the corporate interest of the manufacturer. Rates are set by the local administration. At the same time, housing and communal services does not provide adequate control of the actual consumption of resources and cannot invoice for excessive use. The consumer, in turn, cannot refuse payments and allocate volumes that really should be included in the tariff and cost. The existing payment scheme, therefore, does not allow to take into account the costs that the manufacturer actually incurs, the amount of actual consumption and loss of the product during its transportation and receipt.

Tariff Regulation Tasks

An effective analysis of standardization and pricing procedures should be based on the ratio of the generated level of producers' costs to the consumption of a specific resource. The existing problems are caused by the imperfection of the current regulatory framework. At the same time, gaps are present at the federal, regional and local levels. The tariff regulation scheme is designed to ensure the implementation of investment and production programs approved for the coming period. Its functions include:

1. Stimulating utilities to reduce costs while improving the quality of services.
2. Creating conditions for attracting investment.
3. Ensuring the formation of the necessary amount of financial resources.
4. Accounting for the creation of competitive relations in some sub-sectors of housing and communal services.
5. The formation of mechanisms to reduce the politicization of pricing processes.

Methodology of planning, calculation and accounting

The finance department of housing and communal services should seek a compromise between the terms of reference, the need for money and the solvency of the population. The basis for the determination of tariffs is the Methodology of planning, calculation and accounting of tariffs. It is designed to ensure the unity of classification and composition of costs, costing at enterprises engaged in various types of activities in the housing sector. The Statute approved by government decree No. 522 of 08/05/1992, amendments to it, as well as other legal acts acts as a regulatory framework. The methodology is intended for use by organizations of various types of activities: operation of the housing stock, water disposal and water supply, electricity, heat supply, sanitary cleaning of settlements, bath, hotel, laundry services, etc. Services for each direction of housing and communal services are used as settlement objects.

Planning

It acts as one of the key stages in determining economically reasonable prices. Cost planning is necessary both for natural monopolists and for those organizations that get the opportunity to conclude service contracts by competition. In the latter case, the cost is included in the tariff, which is the starting price for the event. The planned costs for each item are set in accordance with:

1. An analysis of actual costs and their dynamics in the coming period.
2. The use of regional and industry standards for types of costs.

The planning process should take into account the following groups of factors:

1. Lowering the cost of production: the use of anti-cost mechanism, measures for resource conservation and so on.
2. Increasing cost: price indices that determine the degree of inflation, the introduction of technological operations that improve the quality of service.

The planned cost for a unit of service is established by dividing the total estimated costs by the expected volume of services in kind. Loss / profit from sales is determined as the difference between revenue in current prices excluding VAT and costs in accordance with legislation (standards).

Additional Tasks

To increase the efficiency of organizing the sector in the housing complex, it is envisaged that the management of an apartment building is designed to provide safe and favorable conditions for citizens, proper maintenance of common property, the solution of issues related to its use, as well as high-quality service by housing and communal services organizations . At the location address, owners should choose one of the management methods:

1. Directly by the owners of the apartments.
2. HOA, a specialized consumer cooperative.
3. Management organization.

The corresponding decision is taken at the general meeting.

Conclusion

In the 90s in Russia, the population covered about 4% of the operating costs of housing and communal services. The rest of the cost was offset by budgetary funds. In the process of transition to a market economy, it became apparent that such a financing system was ineffective. In this regard, there was an acute need for sector reform. By Presidential Decree No. 425, the Concept of Transformation was approved. In accordance with it, the following tasks were set:

1. Ensuring the living standards of citizens who meet the standards.
2. Cost reduction for service organizations. This, in turn, was supposed to help reduce tariffs while maintaining the quality of services.
3. Mitigation for citizens of the consequences of the transformation of payment calculation schemes when the sector switches to break-even mode.

As practice has shown, the process of reforming the housing and communal services at the territorial level is quite slow. On the ground there is a gradual increase in tariffs. By 2007, household payments covered about 80% of the costs in the industry. After the transition to full payment of housing and communal services, budgetary obligations are provided for only part of the costs related to the provision of benefits and subsidies. Meanwhile, at present the state of communal infrastructure remains unsatisfactory. The following problems have been identified in the industry:

1. The percentage of depreciation of fixed assets is high (50-70%).
2. Commercialization is proceeding rather slowly.
3. The financial condition of housing and communal services organizations today does not meet the requirements of the economy.
4. The presence of high payables and receivables.
5. Lack of private investment.
   

The development of housing and communal services is slow and difficult. Difficulties are caused primarily by the neglect of the industry, the presence of contradictions in the financial relations of the participants in the process. Experts consider it justified the decision to gradually increase tariffs for the population so that over time they reach the level set for legal entities. However, a clear mechanism is needed to protect low-income families. At the same time, experts note that the originally established deadlines for the transition to 100% payment by citizens of operating costs are not justified. Due to high inflation, the need to strengthen social protection of the population, it is proposed to reduce the maximum allowable share of citizens ’own expenses for housing and communal services from 22 to 18%. At all levels of government, it is necessary to more actively deal with the problems of the industry, without shifting them to the population, investors and the market.