According to surveys, the salary of 43 percent of the Russian population will not last until the end of the month. Will this value increase soon? Out of turn, the Russian government is increasing the cost of gas, electricity, water and heat.
The Russian authorities are fueling inflation significantly by raising state-regulated utility tariffs. According to media reports, gas prices rose by 8.5 percent at the turn of the month. Russians now have to pay 9 percent more for electricity. The water and heat supply will also become more expensive.
It is already the second tariff increase in the current year. Normally, the Russian government raises the prices for gas, electricity, water and heat only once a year, in July. At the beginning of autumn, however, the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Moscow announced that gas pipes, heating pipes and water pipes would be repaired and modernized and that the tariffs would therefore have to be raised again in December. The aim is to pass the costs on to consumers. The planned price adjustment on July 1, 2023 should be omitted. Only in the following year are the tariffs to be increased again.
As a result of the tariff adjustment, a family of three will have to pay an average of 324 rubles more per month from December 1, which is the equivalent of just over five euros, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs. However, the average income in Russia is only around 35,000 rubles, which currently corresponds to around 550 euros.
Overall, utility bills in Russia have risen by four percent this year. Since the beginning of the war, Russian citizens have had to contend with double-digit inflation. Although the ruble has since become more expensive against the key currencies, the euro and the dollar, technical equipment and other imported goods in particular have become more expensive.
The hope expressed by some economists that gas would become cheaper on the domestic market after the reduction in exports of raw materials was also not fulfilled. According to surveys, the salary of 43 percent of the population will not last until the end of the month.
