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- In the pipe position: the wear of heating systems in a number of Russian cities has reached 70%
In the pipe position: the wear of heating systems in a number of Russian cities has reached 70%
Heating networks in some cities of the country are worn out by 70%, while the pace of their renovation is almost twice as slow as planned. Currently, only 2.2% of the networks are being replaced annually instead of the 5% outlined in the Housing and Communal Services Development Strategy. This increases the risk of utility accidents and requires additional investments in the modernization of heating systems, experts say. What are the reasons and how can the situation be changed — in the material of Izvestia.
How worn out are the heating networks in Russia
Currently, about 2.2% of heating systems are being replaced annually instead of 5% stipulated by the Strategy for the Development of the Construction industry and Housing and Communal Services of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030 with a forecast up to 2035. This assessment is contained in the materials of the meeting of the State Duma Committee on Energy dated February 13, which were reviewed by Izvestia. At the same time, experts note that the wear of heating networks in a number of cities has reached 70%.
— The increasing dilapidation of the heating network infrastructure leads to an increase in accidents, while the main number of accidents in the district heating system (up to 80%) occurs precisely on heating networks with a high level of wear, — stated in the materials.
As a result, the current rate of annual replacement of heating systems does not allow to prevent their "further degradation." Izvestia sent requests to the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Energy, the State Duma, as well as to energy companies.
— The state of heating networks, water supply and sewerage systems today is in many ways like Pandora's box — it's scary to open it, but you still have to do it. The level of deterioration of the municipal infrastructure remains critically high: of the 170,000 km of linear heating networks, about half already need to be replaced," Deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy Yuri Stankevich told Izvestia.
According to him, the key problem is that the cumulative depreciation continues to grow. About 3% of networks are recognized as emergency every year, while no more than 2% are updated. As a result, risks not only persist, but also accumulate, increasing the likelihood of large-scale utility accidents.
According to Rostechnadzor, today in Russia more than 41 million people (about 35% of the country's population) live in the territories of municipalities with unreliable and unreliable heat supply systems. Financing in the amount of 4.5 trillion rubles is provided for the implementation of a comprehensive housing and communal services modernization program until 2030, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said earlier.
— The actual demand is at least twice as high. Underfunding does not cover the physical deterioration of the infrastructure," said Yuri Stankevich.
The average wear rate of heating systems, according to various estimates, reaches 60-70% in Russia, said Valery Andrianov, associate professor at the Financial University under the Government.
— But depending on the region, this indicator can vary and in some cases reach 80-90%. This can lead to man—made accidents — for example, hot water pipeline breakthroughs can lead to landslides and so on," he said.
Such accidents are especially dangerous during the period of abnormal cold weather and snowfall: this, among other things, is fraught with disconnection from heat supply not only to housing, but also to important social facilities, Valery Andrianov added.
On January 30, there were more than 1.3 thousand people in the city of Bodaibo, Irkutsk region. they were left without water supply and heat. The accident affected residents of building 141. Secondary school No. 3 and a special correctional school were also without heat and water. A local emergency mode was introduced on the territory of houses left without heating.
In February, investigators opened a criminal case into a major accident on a heating main in Smolensk, which left 40,000 residents without heating, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the region reported. In January 2024, a major accident left residential buildings in Klimovsk near Moscow without heat. After the heating mains burst in Podolsk, residents of 170 houses, over 20 thousand people, were left without heat.
How can the situation be changed?
To date, the share of heating networks with an operating period exceeding 25 years in the area of responsibility of PJSC T Plus is about 65-70%, the company told Izvestia.
— During the period of "cheap money", thanks to the mechanisms of heat supply price zones and concession agreements, as well as concessional financing from loans from the Territorial Development Fund, it was possible to reverse the trend of aging infrastructure and increase the pace of its renewal in the company to 3.5%. However, in the current macroeconomic situation, this pace has to be reduced," they said.
It is not possible to achieve the required pace without a set of measures that would include concessional lending and government subsidies for investments, the company added.
There is also a risk of the need to raise tariffs for the population, because if there is not enough private and budget money, and investments are needed, the burden begins to flow into payment, said Vladimir Chernov, analyst at Freedom Finance Global.
— At the same time, the direct link between investment growth and tariff increases does not have to be automatic: regulatory mechanisms and cost justification control significantly affect the final cost for consumers. The main risk for the population lies not so much in the growth of the tariff itself, as in the absence of its connection to real work, understandable modernization programs and strict verification of estimates. Otherwise, payments will increase, and there will be no fewer accidents," the expert said.
The risk of an accident is not always directly related to the degree of deterioration of the infrastructure and is largely determined by the quality of equipment operation. Therefore, control measures are of key importance to reduce risk, including in preparation for the autumn—winter period, as well as the level of qualification of regulators in the field, said Stanislav Shubin, associate professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.
Speaking about investments in the industry, the expert stressed that there are only three sources of financing: the budget, the private investor and the end user. At the same time, in the end, it is the latter that always pays these costs — directly through tariffs or indirectly through taxes and prices for goods and services, he added.
Tariffs for housing and communal services are increasing, and they include funds for the modernization of heating systems. And if we proceed not from the appetites of the housing and communal services, but from the real solvency of the population, then the current tariffs are rather overstated, Valery Andrianov believes.
Since July 1, 2025, the planned indexation of utility tariffs has averaged 11.9% in the country, which was almost twice as high as the general inflation rate (5.59%). This growth was precisely due to the need to repair and modernize heating systems, Valery Andrianov noted. Also, on January 1, 2026, the cost of utilities was adjusted by 1.7%.
Dmitry Tortev, a member of the expert council of the State Duma Committee for the Protection of Competition, believes that the resource to combat network wear due to tariff increases has actually been exhausted.
— In this situation, one of the ways out may be modernization programs with federal co-financing, including through debt cancellation of subjects. In addition, the burden on network renovation budgets is increasing in proportion to new construction. It is necessary to legislate the obligation of developers to assess the condition of networks and participate in their modernization in proportion to the load that new homes create, the expert believes.
It is also necessary to actively use the potential of robotization — the re-equipment of technical diagnostics methods. For example, using robots to assess the condition of pipes from the inside will help to assess both the real remaining resource and the localization of necessary investments, the specialist concluded.
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