Empty Heads Raise Utility Tariff Rates 10 Times

Officials come up with utility tariff rates "on the go."

The government says that for now we pay only 69% of the communal and utility services. Activist from Babruisk Lyubou Sankevich collected rent bills and scrupulously calculated that from 2010 to 2017, payment for various types of housing and communal services increased from 3 to 125 (!) times. And after the meeting with Lukashenka even Prime Minister Semashka casually mentioned that it is necessary to raise the heating fee by 6-7 times for zero profitability.

So what will we see in the "updated" rent bills since January 1? The former Minister of Labor Aliaksandr Sasnou answered questions of Charter97.org.

- What part of the housing and communal services do we actually pay for and why do these figures constantly change?

- There is a very simple explanation. A lot of phenomena in our Belarusian reality can be explained by the ignorance of those who deal with it.

The country's leadership is completely unprofessional. It itself does not know what is the real price for utility bills. Therefore, each time a completely different figures are voiced.

And this is not just bullying: when they gain profit from one figure - it is voiced; as soon as something else is profitable - another figure is announced.

The ruler Lukashenka plays innocence: all officials raise tariff rates, and I'm "innocent". From time to time he promises to "cut off their heads." But everything remains the same. There's no surprise: there is one head for them all starting from the very top.

- And where is the "ceiling" then? How many times can these "heads" drive up tariff rates?

- It requires calculations. And both experts and ordinary citizens have no opportunity to do this. Because the authorities try to veil initial figures; this is the very sense of the housing and communal services system that they've created.

It's hard to say when they stop. Given the incompetence of those who run the country, it will last for long. I am sure that even if they raise tariffs rates tenfold, they will still not "make ends meet". It will be announced that we again fall behind payments, and will find "justification" to raise tariff rates again and again. And the result will be the same: housing and communal services are still unprofitable.

- But in the regions real wages and the cost of housing and communal services can soon perform the "linkage on the Elbe". Where is common sense?

- The problem is not only in tariff rates. The problem is that the entire economy misses efficiency. If it was effective, there would be no question of raising utility tariff rates.

There is one reason for it - the ignorance of people at the helm. They, in fact, do not aim at creation of an effective model. They try to survive and retain power they have seized for now. And then everything could go to hell.

It can be said there is no social policy in the country. There is only the line to retain power by Lukashenka's clan. And no one is going to engage in social development and normal living conditions for citizens.