Cold hearth: Irkutsk region is on the verge of an energy crisis due to unscrupulous developers

The Irkutsk region reports record rates of residential housing construction, however, more than a third of the increase is provided by "temporary buildings" - low-quality houses built without compliance with standards. They are being massively built by unscrupulous developers on former agricultural lands and sold as year-round housing. It is primarily the population that suffers from this. Izvestia dealt with the situation.

— We need to think about the fact that the construction of houses, especially residential housing, should be based on energy efficiency standards. So far, these standards are voluntary. So far, no one is touching them. But I think it needs to be developed," Nikolai Shulginov, head of the Energy Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, told reporters after a meeting of the visiting round table of the State Duma Committee held in Irkutsk last Friday.

The deputies, in particular, dealt with one of the big problems of the region – the huge residential areas of the so-called "cold" houses that arise due to opaque real estate schemes.

The members of the State Duma Committee on Energy did not end up in Irkutsk by chance. A few months ago, they had scheduled an off-site round table meeting on the development of the regional electric power industry.

"Affordable" housing

The deputies were shown photos of problematic buildings: two-story houses stand in a single line along the street, and behind them endless fields with similar houses are visible. These are the views of the Irkutsk and Shelekhovsky districts of the Irkutsk region.

— Affordable housing here is built of timber with a maximum thickness of 15 cm without any insulation, walls, basement or foundation, floors are not insulated, the largest heat loss through the roof. That is, the roof is also not insulated. And in severe frosts (about -40 degrees), the exterior walls of the house are heated to +17 degrees. Therefore, the facade on the thermogram taken by the thermal imager simply shines. That is, the lion's share of the electricity that goes to heating heats the outdoor air," says an expert familiar with the situation.

This has become one of the main reasons for the shortage of energy capacity in the region.

In the first half of 2025 alone, 1,094 thousand square meters of housing were commissioned in the Irkutsk Region. This is 28% more than in the same period of 2024. According to Irkutskstat, individual housing construction increased by 34%. People have built 990,000 square meters of individual housing, which is 91% of the total amount of residential real estate commissioned. That is, 10 out of 11 real estate objects are residential housing houses.

They buy "cardboard" houses because of their cheapness. There are many offers of similar real estate in the region at a price of 3-4 million rubles per 100 sq. m. At the same time, a standard urban one-bedroom apartment will cost at least 10 million rubles, which is comparable with prices in the Moscow region.

More than an apartment

"To the city?" I won't move for anything! The children will be cramped. My mom bought this house five years ago. She lives in Irkutsk, but we settled here. We like it here," says Yulia, a mother with many children from the village of Khomutova, located 28 km from the center of Irkutsk.

A large plot, its own vegetable garden. The area of her house is 63 sq. m. This is a standard house for Khomutovo: one-story with a gable roof, timber walls with sides of 18 cm, electric heating. There are three rooms, a corridor and a kitchen on an area of 63 "squares".

The deciding factor in the purchase was the price – the house from the developer cost 2 million rubles. They did not pay attention to the fact that it was not insulated. And due to the fact that electricity in the region is the cheapest in the whole country (1,106 rubles per kilowatt/hour in villages and 1.58 rubles per kilowatt/hour for cities), no one saves on this.

— In winter, such a house consumes 10.3 thousand kWh. If it is insulated, then energy consumption can be reduced by 3.2 times," says an expert familiar with the situation.

According to him, the total consumption for electric heating in the Irkutsk region is estimated at 2-3 gigawatts of power, for comparison, the capacity of the Irkutsk HPP is 0.7612 gigawatts.

Over time, Julia's wooden house shrank and cracks appeared. At the end of October, it was already near zero, and there were the first frosts. The stove is heated inside, the heaters are on, so the rooms are warm. But the situation will change with the arrival of real cold weather if the house is not insulated.

— The stove doesn't do much good - it heats up the kitchen and the hallway. But you need a lot of money for firewood. In winter, I buy a car of firewood several times for 11-12 thousand rubles plus at least 10 thousand per month for electricity. It was so cold that the electric heating could not withstand the load, the children had to be sent to their grandmother in the city, and she herself had to sleep in a jacket, hugging the stove," says Yulia.

The struggle for quality

An example from open sources: a house in Khomutovo with an area of 143 square meters was bought for 3 million rubles. Consumption in December 2023 amounted to 10.3 thousand kilowatts/hour. At the same time, the energy consumption of a well-built and insulated house in operation is 156 square meters. m in December 2023 amounted to 4 thousand kilowatts/hour. This house carries a lot of heat loss, so in order to achieve the same indicator, it is required to invest several million more rubles in it, according to estimates. That is, in total, a decent heat-efficient house in Khomutovo with a total area of 140 square meters. m will not cost 3 million rubles, but 2-3 times more expensive.

— A lot of attention should be paid to the information component in this matter. You turn on our TV channels, look at our newspapers. They just don't explain to a person what it means to them. And what is energy efficiency, what is energy modernization? In some territories, this has been completely forgotten," says State Duma deputy Boris Gladkikh.

According to him, first of all, attention should be paid to the requirements in the housing and communal services, and the executive authorities should work in this area.

— Because the land somehow appears, how it is built, with what labor resources, with what quality. To help even a citizen to take and make a claim as from the consumer to the performer. The institution of housing construction in the territory should be strengthened in the interests of the citizen. Even if we understand that we cannot catch the developer at any specific points, then we can show people who is currently working poorly and why, and who is working efficiently. And people will make their choice. For commercial organizations, it is necessary to create a situation in which, if they want to make money, they must build with high quality," the deputy noted.

Undercover construction

The scheme of unscrupulous developers, which has become widespread and has been operating for many years, is simple: cheap agricultural land is transferred to the status of lands of horticultural non-profit partnerships (SNTS), where capital housing construction is prohibited. Then these plots are divided into smaller ones and houses are built on them very quickly from the cheapest materials without insulation and permits.

This is also why there has been a significant increase in electricity and capacity consumption in the Irkutsk Region over the past five years. Since 2020, energy consumption in the region has increased by an average of 28%. Today, the shortage of electric and thermal power in the Irkutsk region's energy system is estimated at 1-2 gigawatts. In 2031, the indicator may double, experts say.

Farmland areas continue to be actively built up. For example, on the way from Irkutsk to the village of Moty, one cannot help but pay attention to the development of the territory of the former Angarsky state farm in Baklashinsky municipality. Residential buildings are located on former arable land in the absence of infrastructure: roads, electricity, water supply, and sanitation. And this is happening despite the shortage of arable fertile land.

Lawyers point out that most of the lands of the former state farm are located outside the settlement, so they can be used exclusively for agricultural production purposes and cannot be included in the boundaries of the farming co-op.Moreover, the construction of garden and residential buildings, outbuildings and garages within their borders is prohibited by Article 79 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the territorial planning documents confirm the involvement of the administration of the Baklashinsky municipality of farmland in economic turnover for housing construction.

Similar stories are happening in the Khomutovsky municipality, where the construction of individual residential buildings on the farmland of the former Ilyich's Path collective farm continues. It is planned to develop agricultural land in the Urikovo municipality.

Another good example occurred in the Irkutsk region. The Regional Ministry of Property Relations, despite the court decision, has not yet secured the actual seizure of the land plot from the developer Meta-Development. It was illegally registered on the cadastral register by the Rosreestr authorities upon the expiration of the lease agreement, and an apartment building has already been erected on it.

The co-owner of the development company is Sergey Mayarenkov, head of the autonomous non-profit organization Center for Assistance to the Integrated Development of the Irkutsk Quarters Territory. And his wife is a co-owner of a company that owns a plot under the Baikal Hill Residence apartments in Listvyanka on the Baikal coast.

Under the article

There are enough similar stories in the region. Criminal proceedings also began to appear. A criminal case has been opened on abuse of authority, which led to the illegal development of land in Markov Irkutsk district. Three years ago, the Kuibyshev District Court of Irkutsk sentenced Igor Naumov, the former mayor of the Irkutsk region, who was found guilty of fraud with land plots worth more than 550 million rubles. And in August of this year, the Tulun City Court sentenced the former mayor of Tulun, Yuri Karikh, to five years in a penal colony. One of the episodes of the criminal case is related to the illegal redistribution of land.

And despite this, the process does not stop. Across the region, you can find vast empty territories with electric wires connected to them. But there is no consumer. These are long-term lands for which preferential electricity supply has been extended by resupply, because according to the law, the grid company does not have the right to refuse technological connection and is obliged to build infrastructure in a short time. According to expert estimates, this costs tens of millions of rubles, which ultimately place a tariff burden on the shoulders of all consumers in the Irkutsk region. From the point of view of the region's energy sector, this is wasted money, from the point of view of other consumers, it is additional costs.

—When allocating land for residential housing, I would insist that houses be built specifically for (...) comfortable living for people," concluded Nikolai Shulginov, head of the Energy Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

According to him, the State Duma Energy Committee will study the possibility of introducing mandatory energy efficiency standards for residential buildings in Russia.