On October 11, Minsk /BelTA correspondent/. Differentiated payment for consumed electricity in Belarus will be based on the principles of social justice. This was reported to BelTA by the press service of the government following a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich on the differentiated payment for housing and communal services by the population and the principles of establishing targeted assistance. Despite the increase in prices for fuel and energy resources for organizations providing housing and communal services to the population, tariffs for such services have increased insignificantly over the past few years. Considering the existing tariff levels, the population has no economic incentives for economical consumption of thermal and electrical energy. Having studied the experience of most countries worldwide, where differentiated tariffs have been successfully applied for a long time, a decision has been made to prepare a draft regulatory legal act aimed at introducing differentiated payment based on the principles of social justice. The instrument for accounting for the consumed service will be the basis. Thus, it is proposed to establish social consumption volumes, increased and maximum, with corresponding tariffs. To eliminate price disproportions, there will be a phased increase in the level of the basic tariff for natural gas and electricity, linked to the pace of wage growth and other population incomes. It is planned to achieve full reimbursement by the population of the costs incurred by organizations related to the provision of thermal, electric, and gas supply services in the future. The social package (volume and tariff of consumption) is planned to be kept within the existing volumes, which are currently consumed by 80% of the population. According to the Ministry of Energy, it is precisely these 80% of the population that consume only half of the total volume of electrical energy, with 50% of the volume accounting for 20% of subscribers, respectively. The meeting also discussed the issue of establishing a budget non-cash housing subsidy, which low-income citizens and large families can count on. The composition of the family and household income will be taken into account when determining the subsidy amount. After the introduction of such a payment scheme, the existing imbalances, where maximum volumes of natural gas and electricity consumption by individual citizens are subsidized from the state treasury, will be eliminated, the press service of the government noted. -0-

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