Kurgan residents receive utility bills with high hot water charges

Residents of Kurgan received utility bills for January and were unpleasantly surprised by the figures. They were struck not even by the tariffs, which had been raised since the start of the year by 2%, but by the additional recalculations that appeared.

«The bill shows a charge of 1,000 rubles ($11 at current rates) for 5 cubic meters of hot water for January, and next to it a recalculation — a debt of 2,078 rubles ($23). That makes the total due over three thousand rubles ($33). Where did these figures come from?» — a city resident shared with the 45.RU editorial office.

According to our reader, her neighbors also received a similar recalculation of two thousand rubles ($22).

«First, the billing center told me that my payment for four months of 2025 had not gone through. I went back for the receipts, looked, and indeed — there were charges in the line, but they were not included in the amount payable on the unified bill. I pay the full amount shown each month through my personal account. If you add up the underpayment, it still comes to about two thousand rubles, but not two thousand. Then at Energosbyt they told me that they had recalculated not only the unpaid money, but also recalculated the charge for the period when the water was supplied of poor quality — cold. That is, the water was cold, everything was documented, but they are taking the payment,» our interlocutor says.

At the energy sales company Energosbyt Vostok (EC Vostok), a correspondent for 45.RU confirmed that such recalculations had been made. In total, they were presented for 656 apartments in 34 apartment buildings. The recalculations began in December.

«In December 2025 and January 2026, the payment documents for some residents of Kurgan reflected additional charges for the hot water supply service. This is due to the fact that earlier, when recalculating the fee for the hot water supply service of inadequate quality, the full monthly cost of the service was used. As a result, the service fee was erroneously reduced to 0 rubles, despite its actual provision. According to established rules, the fee is subject to a reduction of 0.1% for every 3°C deviation of the hot water temperature from permissible values for each hour of deviation in total during the billing period,» says the response from EC Vostok to a request from 45.RU.

The response also states that the recalculations were made based on the cost of the service per day, and the previously unjustifiably written-off amounts were reflected in the payment document as an additional charge.

«We would like to remind you that the additional charge was made only for those accounts where the service charge was erroneously reduced,» is noted at the end of the response.

Earlier, the 45.RU editorial office also reported that residents of high-rise buildings with communal heat meters received much higher heating bills for January due to frosts.