Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a document amending the Federal Law “On Gas Supply in the Russian Federation”.

In particular, they assume that now the construction of the gas pipeline to the boundaries of the land plot will be free for citizens.

The relevant law has been published on the legal information portal.

The amendments also provide for the introduction of the institution of a unified gasification operator, which will become the owner of the Unified Gas Supply System, that is, Gazprom and its companies.

In some areas, regional operators will appear, which will be responsible for the operation and development of gas networks.

The source of financing for gasification will be primarily the investment premium of the gas distribution organization, which can now be used to finance the construction of the “last mile”.

Funds can be attracted through the mechanisms of concessional loans, loans, and so on.

At the same time, tariffs for the population should not rise above the inflation rate.

Regional gasification programs will be based on the fuel and energy balances of the constituent entities of the Federation, which become analytical and forecast documents.

The bill was approved by the State Duma on June 1, and the next day approved by the Federation Council.

As the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, noted, the innovation will allow a huge number of people to connect to gas, which will ensure that there is no need for stove heating.

“The house can be located far from the gas pipe: 100-200 meters from the gas pipeline, and sometimes more.

It is clear that not everyone can afford to pay for the gas supply.

The bill solves this problem, - said Volodin.

- Now, from the gas pipe, which is laid in the settlement, to the border of the household of a particular person, the gas will be required to be supplied at the expense of the state.

And already directly on the territory of his land plot the citizen will pay for the connection to the house himself ”.

Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, an expert at the Financial University under the Russian government, recalled that the country's president had previously raised the topic of lack of access to gas for many households in Russia.

“The project reinforces a certain idea that Putin expressed during his address to the Federal Assembly.

People need gas for free.

There was an idea, its implementation went, "the interlocutor of RT stated.

At the same time, the expert noted that the adopted bill leaves certain restrictions on the issue of gasification: “The settlement itself must be connected to gas.

And it is not yet clear how quickly all this will start working. "

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Recall that during the announcement of the message to the Federal Assembly in April 2021, the president instructed the government, together with the regions, to develop a clear plan for gasification of households, stressing that people should not pay for gas supply directly to the border of the land plot.

He also demanded that the Cabinet of Ministers, together with Gazprom and other structures, work out all the details so that there would be no failures during the implementation of the initiative.

“Otherwise, I said from this rostrum, people will wait, and some squiggles somewhere, where necessary, do not put commas, and everything will stand again.

This is absolutely unacceptable, I'll check it myself, take a closer look.

Both Mosoblgaz and other organizations must understand what they must do, in what time frame and for what money, "the president emphasized.

In early May, Putin approved a list of instructions for the implementation of the message, within the framework of which he instructed the government and regional authorities, together with Gazprom and other gas distribution organizations, to resolve the issue of free gas supply to household borders by 2023 until 2023.

In turn, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak noted that 700-800 billion rubles would be required to finance the regional gasification program for the next five years.

He also said that the accelerated pre-gasification program for 2021-2022 could affect about 2 million households.

As the deputy general director of the Institute of National Energy Alexander Frolov told RT, the adopted document resolves one of the main contradictions, which is a deterrent to gasification in Russia, namely, the two-part nature of the gasification process.

“That is, at the moment Gazprom is being assigned the functions of bringing the gas transportation infrastructure to settlements, and the local authorities are being obliged to create a gas transportation infrastructure within the settlements.

And this process often does not proceed synchronously, ”he explained.

The expert suggested that thanks to the initiative, the pace and quality of gasification should increase.

“It is quite reasonable to entrust Gazprom with gasification of the population, because the company is interested in accurately determining the volume of potential consumption and in ensuring that everything is built on time,” he added.