Antimonopoly department offers to limit companies' right to submit applications for increasing their tariffs to one time a year

/INTERFAX-KAZAKHSTAN, Astana, May 13, 05/ - State Agency for natural monopolies regulation (ANMR) of Kazakhstan offers to reduce frequency of submitting bids by companies-monopolists for increasing tariffs to one time a year. "Republic's economy is stably growing, inflation is within the forecasted indicators. At that, volumes of monopolists' services supply are growing. There is no sense in proving validity of increasing tariffs twice a year. The agency also insists in cancellation of "binding" announcement of results of "application company" to a concrete day: a monopolist can come to us at any moment one year after the last examination (of application for increasing tariff. - "IF-K")", - Bakhytjan Sagintayev chairman of ANMR said to "Kazakhstanskaya pravda" in the interview published on Friday. "Despite remarks of opponents, we have defended our point of view. The corresponding bill has already been given to the government", - he said. Before a company-monopolist had the right to submit application for increasing tariffs four times a year, then the right was reduced to two times a year: April 1 and October 1. "When the new mechanism of tariff network confirmation starts working, the situation will become more predictable: Ministry of economy and National Bank will not guess how the beginning of April and October will influence upon inflation and consumer's pocket", - Sagintayev said. ANMR's head marked "freezing" tariffs - "is not usage of notorious administrative pressure, but quite a deliberate economic policy o regulation", directed towards prevention of inflation growth under conditions of the expected in July increase of wages and pensions in the country. Otherwise "people will not feel the addition", he said. So, ANMR's head has said, the agency jointly with "Kazakhstan temir zholy" takes "additional measures on reducing tariffs for transportation of vegetables, fruits and meat by railway transport - trunk railway services will cheapen for by half for these cargoes". This, he presumes, "will let reduce prices for goods on republic's domestic market". ANMR offers to companies-monopolists, in particular to public utility services suppliers, "solve problems due to expenses optimization". "If one carries out this work purposefully and in system manner, it's possible to get additional net income and stop being dependent on growth of prices for CLM, coal and other goods and services", - Sagintayev says. Besides, ANMR obliges companies in compliance with latest corrections in the law "About natural monopolies" make separate counting of expenses on each regulated service. Separate counting is also an effective instrument", - Sagintayev said. Explaining the tasks, Sagintayev said major of them were revising validity of increasing cost of services of companies-monopolists, confirmation of tariff estimate, and creation of mechanisms for improving methodological base. He said, "the agency is no more responsible for pricing on foodstuffs, gasoline, coal and so on". At the same time in accordance with latest reformation of the department, he continued, "number of companies regulated by us has considerably decreased". "Legislatively there has occurred division of natural monopolies subjects into big (162) and small (over 700). Control for small monopolies - mainly state utility enterprises (UE) - has been transmitted to domestic executive bodies. Amount of annual income has been taken for "watershed". If a company earns over 350 th. MCI, it's automatically transmitted to the sphere of agency's regulation", - Sagintayev said. 1 MCI (monthly calculation index) is now KZT971 (current 131.13/$1). A part of former functions of ANMR concerned with regulation of small companies, are now fulfilled by akimats, Sagintayev said, having complained that "some of them (akimats - "IF-K") considered single for all methods of tariffs calculation do not apply to them and they will be able to satisfy economic tasks of cities or villages due to increasing cost of services". "Today we do not confirm tariffs of companies-monopolists controlled by domestic bodies. So, we can't "warn" ungrounded increase of their tariffs", - he said. [2005-05-16]