MSE "Su Arnasy Atyrau" plans 60% increase in tariffs for water supply and sanitation that will definitely affect SMEs!

About the future 60%increase of tariffs for water supply, businesses of Atyrau have learned ... from the web-portal palata.kz. All people had a same reaction: "What are you talking about?! It cannot be true! "

The lack of transparency in the discussion of pricing policy of the utility services is proved by the fact that the monopoly has not yet held public hearings. Otherwise, mass media would know about it, as it is prescribed by the law. But the study of periodicals revealed that the Department for Regulation of Natural Monopolies did not publish any ads or reports.

"Raising tariffs by 60%? Yes, it is insane! Can you imagine what an effect the tariff increase will have on the prices of goods?! And it is - against the backdrop of the recent decision of the devaluation", - said in a rage the owner of the cafe Karazhigitov Erbol.

According to him, the decision must have been discussed behind the closed doors of the regional akimat. Businessman are sure that consideration of matter at the level of public debate would give the city authorities a new food for thought.

"Such decisions must be preceded by a thorough analysis of the level of solvency of the population and business. There is a certain price level, beyond which consumers are unable to pay. And as a consequence they do not pay! It is no secret that in the 90s of the last century, many water supply companies solved their economic problems in the same way. And this has led to the accumulation of debt and the chain of bankruptcies of public companies", - citizens reminded public authorities about the recent history.

The owner of the car wash Askar Akhanov doesn’t hide the fact that increase in tariffs will cause great social upheaval in the lives of citizens. Shock is comparable with the effect of devaluation.

"The increase in tariffs by 60% will force to raise prices for car wash services, at least to a level that ensures profitability - 30%. I'll be honest: I will have to cut the costs and may streamline the staff. I would like to note that small business doesn’t have any privileges on payment of public utilities. Our government equaled individual entrepreneurs to legal entities which allows them to charge as much", - says the businessman.

According to Askar Akhanov, today business of Atyrau is "morally prepared to raise a protest".

The owner of the company for production of purified drinking water Selzhan supported the idea ... "If the water supply company raises tariffs for water supply, the mechanism of the general rise in prices will be launched. We all find ourselves in a position where we have to make unpopular decisions. I agree, water utilities must be repaired and the technical base must be upgraded. But why this should be done at our expense and at one time? Why the investment component cannot be "distributed evenly" for five or seven years? And this solution is ill-timed! "- says Selzhan ... (...).

The well-known public figure Asel Nurgaziyeva believes that the increase in prices for services of the water-supply company would lead to bankruptcy of a large number of small and medium-sized businesses.

"Among the first to suffer the impact will be mini bakeries, cafes, hairdressers. They will just stop their activities. Note that we are talking about the tax base, thus, shortfall in revenues to the local budget of Atyrau can occur in the future. It is unlikely that these losses of revenues will be covered by the revenue of "Atyrau Su Arnasy". There are chances that this company will lose profits through reduction of the number of paying customers. In addition, it is still not clear what constitutes an investment program of modernization of “Atyrau Su Arnasy” and we wonder why its main source of payment is population?", - Said a lawyer and a human rights activist.

According to her, the decision to raise rates was made by Maslikhat of Atyrau. "But look at maslikhat deputies? In our region every manager of the utility company has a badge of a deputy. Heat Supply Company, Telecom, Water Supply Company - directors of these companies are members of the local representative body. This means that the formal decision to raise tariffs was taken legally. Unless there is a conspiracy of monopolists? Not really? It is "only" a meeting of city maslikhat", - the lawyer commented the situation in a telephone conversation with the correspondent of palata.kz.

According to the human rights activist, who is also an expert of Atyrau Chamber of entrepreneurs the decision to raise tariffs of "Atyrau Su Arnasy'' was adopted with violation of the legal procedure". This has already caused a mixed reaction among citizens. However, only one representative of the local political "beau monde" - Tolgat Ayan protested officialy. But who knows, maybe a utility bill for water supply, that comes on 1st of August will be the last straw and discontent of citizens will get a large-scale form?

And what about the Chamber? It is known that tariff formation is declared one of the priorities areas of "Atameken"?

"Today Atyrau Chamber of entrepreneurs attempts to create a dialogue platform at which the representatives of monopoly and the business community could share their views. It doesn’t really work well yet", - says Asel Nurgaziyeva.

The representative of "Atyrau Su Arnasy" didn’t want to reveal his name. Answering a phone call, our interlocutor explained that the public hearings were held and were attended by "respected people of the city". They agreed with the arguments of the enterprise-monopolist. "Yes, the media representatives were not present at the hearings. Why do we need them? There were no representatives of the Chamber of Entrepreneurs. We have sent invitations three times, but ... mail does not work well", - we could hear notes of irony in our interlocutor's voice.

As it became known, during the last days the representatives of the Chamber conducted hard work to harmonize positions of Government, business and the enterprise-monopolist. Let's hope for the best?