Press release, June 26, 2013

In late May St.Petersburg’s Tariffs Committee lowered mandatory utility payments for general servicing of blocks of flats by 7.5 times. Grigory Yavlinsky, head of the YABLOKO faction in St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly, had been insisting on this for a long time.

In February 2013, Grigory Yavlinsky, sent a letter to the city administration where he substantiated in detail the need for radical reduction in mandatory utility payments for general servicing of blocks of flats. In his letter Yavlinsky referred to the legislation and his calculations made in accordance with these laws showing that mandatory payments were overstated by the companies. He came to this conclusion in the course of his work with numerous appeals from St.Petersburg residents in view of their complaints on overstated utilities payments. In some cases he managed to make the companies to amend their utilities bills sent to St.Petersburg residents, in some cases the work was still going on.

In late May, the Tariffs Committee changed reduced by 7.5 times general mandatory payments for hot and cold water servicing for the blocks of flats.

“We believe that with these reductions total bills for households will fall by 10-15 per cent,” Yavlinsky said. He also expressed his certainty that these positive changes took place due to the work of the YABLOKO faction and replacement of the heads of the profile department in the city administration.