To reduce debts for utilities: new legislations were reviewed by the relevant committee

The Committee on Regional Policy and Housing and Communal Services is actively working to find legislative solutions to reduce the debt of citizens and enterprises to pay for utility services this year. The task for this year was set to the Committee by the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic Alexander Korshunov. Deputies considered and discussed in the first reading two legislations related to this sphere in the course of the Committee meeting today.

The legislative initiative of deputies of the Committee on Regional Policy and Housing and Communal Services Ruslan Gareev and Anton Onufrienko supplements the Civil Code of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic with a new article 336-1 “Repayment of claims for homogeneous obligations”. The essence of the law-in-draft is to allow citizens, when paying for the services of utility companies, to indicate whether they are paying a current payment or a historical debt for a service, unless otherwise provided by law or by agreement of the parties. Introducing the law-in-draft, Deputy Chairman of the Committee Anton Onufrienko noted that there is a precedent in the republic when the court sided with a citizen who challenged the payment of “utilities” and living quarters: he paid current payments, and the cooperative transferred this money to account for his historical debts. The government opposed it and sent a negative opinion to the law-in-draft, arguing that contracts for the supply of utility bills contain a clause stating that when paying for the service, debts are paid first.

The relevant committee will recommend this legislative initiative for adoption by the Supreme Council in the first reading. It is possible in the process of working on the draft law during the second reading to introduce amendments to harmonize the positions of all interested parties.

Another legislative initiative, which concerns reducing the level of debt on utility bills, was developed and presented by the Government of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. The amendments and additions are being made to the law “On Enforcement Proceedings”. The government proposes to supplement the executive legislation with such an enforcement measure as a temporary restriction of the supply of electric energy to the debtor in the event that the debtor fails to fulfill within the prescribed period without good reason the requirements contained in the executive document on the collection of debt for heat supply and (or) water supply and sewerage (sewage). As of May 2022, the debt of individuals and legal entities to the state unitary enterprise "Water Supply and Sanitation" amounted to almost 32 million rubles, to the municipal state unitary enterprise "Tirasteploenergo" – almost 36 million rubles, to the municipal unitary enterprise "Benderyteploenergo" – more 22.5 million rubles.

The Government notes that previously introduced measures, including limiting debtors’ travel outside the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, are effective, but cannot affect all categories of debtors. Therefore, other measures are necessary. The law provides currently for the possibility of disconnecting a debtor from electricity if the debt on payment for electricity services is more than 4 months. However, if the consumer does not pay for heat or water, the providers of these utilities cannot do the same – heating, water supply and sanitation systems are centralized vertical systems and it is impossible to disconnect one separate room from a single distribution. The Government considers that turning off electricity due to non-payment or non-repayment of debts for water supply and heating services will lead to a reduction in accounts payable to these utility companies.

The Committee on Regional Policy and Housing and Communal Services will recommend adopting the law-in-draft in the first reading.