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- Tariff cleansing: FAS has received the right to review payments for housing and communal services
Tariff cleansing: FAS has received the right to review payments for housing and communal services
The laws adopted by the State Duma on the right of the Federal Antimonopoly Service to independently review the maximum levels of utility tariffs mark the end of the era of formal tariff formation, because in 2025-2026 alone, the antimonopoly authority identified more than 10 billion rubles of unjustified expenses of resource supply organizations in 65 regions of the country. Now citizens have a real chance to protect themselves from hidden charges for housing and communal services. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
The future of payment systems
Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin stated that since the beginning of 2026, the Federal Antimonopoly Service has identified 4 billion rubles of economically unjustified funds in utility tariffs. And in the second half of 2025, this figure amounted to 6.59 billion rubles. Resource supply organizations included in the receipts the costs of upgrading housing and communal services facilities, which were not actually fulfilled, which required the antimonopoly authority to independently review the tariff limits.
However, there are no direct cash payments or refunds to citizens, since the identified violations adjust future charges, rather than refund money for past periods. The Institute of Economics of the City explains that the overpaid amount is taken into account in future payments, and the recalculation is carried out by service providers or settlement centers. The State Duma believes that controversial expenses should be excluded from the tariff base so that receipts do not grow at the expense of already recognized unjustified amounts.
Svetlana Razvorotneva, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, in particular, draws attention to the fact that over 35 billion rubles were excluded from tariffs in 2020-2024, which is only 0.2% of total gross revenue (the total amount of funds that resource supply organizations received through fixed tariffs from consumers).
According to monitoring data from the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, the dynamics of detected violations increased: 2020 — 2.4 billion rubles, 2021 — 6.93 billion rubles, 2022 — 3.58 billion rubles, 2023 — 23.12 billion rubles, 2024 — 29.2 billion rubles. Sardana Avksentieva, ex-mayor of Yakutsk, deputy chairman of the State Duma commission on ensuring housing rights of citizens, said that now the government is focused on creating a fair order for the future, and not on mechanically reducing figures for past periods, since the outdated indexing method only multiplies the mistakes of previous years.
Risk areas and modernization plans
Territories with the most worn-out infrastructure fall into the zone of acute risk in terms of the quality of public services, where the control system is only being built, and old violations have not been eliminated. Irina Genzler, Director of the Urban Economy department at the Institute of Urban Economics, cites statistics on water supply: the share of networks in need of replacement averages 43% in the Russian Federation, reaching a critical 75% in the Jewish Autonomous Region, 63% in the Lipetsk Region and 62% in the Novgorod regions.
The 10 billion rubles of inappropriate funds identified by the Federal Antimonopoly Service nationwide will not disrupt plans to upgrade networks in the period 2027-2030 and will not force regions to look for new sources of financing or wait for federal subsidies. According to the calculations of the Institute of Economics of the City, this amount is equivalent to about 150 million rubles per region, which will not have a significant impact on the implementation of investment programs of resource-supplying organizations.
In addition, the federal project "Modernization of municipal infrastructure" has been operating since 2025, where control over the allocation of funds is much stricter, and decisions are made by a special commission. At the same time, the problem remains that many resource-supplying organizations lack the obligation to approve and implement investment programs, which makes it difficult to track the real movement of "investment allowances" from tariffs, the State Duma explained.
Digital control and consumer rights
Automated tariff monitoring should exclude the detection of violations after the fact, for which Federal Law No. 63 provides for the creation of a Federal State Information System for Tariff Regulation. Irina Genzler is confident that the digital platform will ensure prompt receipt of signals about the need for inspections and shorten the period of using illegal tariffs. Publishing detailed transcripts of each tariff for a wide range of experts will also reduce the proportion of subjectivity and the human factor.
Ordinary consumers rarely challenge prices in the courts due to the complexity of the process and high costs, so experts suggest using quick pre-trial protection mechanisms. Sardana Avksentieva reminds that in case of an error in a specific receipt, residents have the right to demand recalculation and compensation of 50% of the excess amount through the State Housing Inspectorate, and in the absence of a reaction, they can go to court. In turn, Alexander Yakubovsky, a member of the Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, advises starting with requesting a settlement from the management organization, and with formal responses, involving the prosecutor's office or the Federal Antimonopoly Service.
The authority may provide for a reduction in the tariff for the amount of outstanding work, but this requires an official basis in the form of a submission from the antimonopoly authority. Such a mechanism will allow you to automatically adjust the database without the need for massive litigation involving each owner.
Geography of tariffs and objective differences
Tariff differences between neighboring regions by tens of percent are due to objective factors, not just calculation errors or abuses by monopolists. The State Duma explains that the cost of heat in a fuel oil boiler or modular installation differs significantly due to the type of fuel, scale and availability of reserve capacities, which are also included in the price.
The new powers of the FAS will not be able to fully unify prices, but they are obliged to cut off economically unjustified expenses that previously fell on the shoulders of citizens. The Antimonopoly Authority has already recorded the inclusion of expenses for advertising, corporate events and office security in tariffs, which confirms the need for strict state control. At the same time, budget investments in infrastructure reduce tariffs, while private investments by companies inevitably increase depreciation charges.
It is also impossible to completely eliminate differences between regions due to climatic conditions, the length of networks and population density. The government's task is to ensure that tariffs are economically reasonable and transparent. The new powers of the FAS should become an effective tool for restoring order in this area.
Tariff growth forecast and relationship to service quality
The forecast for a slowdown in housing and communal services tariff growth remains generally restrained, as the industry requires huge investments against the background of high inflation and an objective need for modernization, according to the State Duma. The Institute of Economics of the City predicts a significant increase in the marginal salary indices of citizens starting in 2027 for accelerated network renewal. At the same time, the State Duma recalls that between 3.5 and 10 trillion rubles are needed to bring the infrastructure back to normal by 2030.
Even with increased supervision, payments will grow, but this process should be as transparent as possible and strictly linked to the actual quality of services. The State Duma emphasizes that citizens should see a concrete result: replaced sections of networks, reduced accidents and improved water quality, and not just formal reporting by resource supply organizations.
Sardana Avksentieva is convinced that the key tool for breaking the vicious link between tariff growth and the revenue of monopolists in the housing and communal services sector should be the transition from standards to actual consumption accounting with the widespread installation of meters. Only transparency and linking payments with real infrastructure improvements will make it possible to stop the uncontrolled growth of receipts, she believes.
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