Theoretical aspects of the cost of utilities and their practical implementation

Abstract

The study analyzes the economic nature of public utilities. It demonstrates that they are provided by economic entities with a monopoly position in local (settlement) markets, which necessitates state regulation of their activities. At the same time, utilities are a mixed (club) good and have such a characteristic of a public good as non-rival consumption. For paid services, this means the need to ensure both technological and financial accessibility for all consumers. Currently, financial accessibility is maintained through caps on the rate of increase in utility payments made by households. The use of this approach has led to a decrease in tariff revenues of resource supply organizations and a crisis in the utility sector. It is substantiated that the most effective mechanism for ensuring the availability of services to consumers while maintaining the financial stability of resource-supplying enterprises is to improve the targeted system of subsidies to households for housing and utilities. The study proposes introducing a criterion for the financial accessibility of public services in the form of the maximum proportion of households receiving subsidies for services, as an indicator of the possibility of tariff increases for the population. The assessment of the introduction of this indicator for tariff dynamics, income of resourcesupplying organizations and budget expenditures has been carried out.