Rising Utility Bills Hitting Some Russian Federal Subjects Ten Times as Much as Others

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 8 – Moscow promised that utility rates would increase by only 1.7 percent this year; and in some of the country’s more than 80 federal subjects, the actual rate was only slightly more than that. But in others, such as Kemerovo and Mordvinia, it was more than ten times as great, the Govorit NeMoskva portal says.

            Rates in Kemerovo Oblast have risen by 21.5 percent since the start of 2026 and by 21.4 percent in the Mordvin Republic over the same period, the portal says (nemoskva.net/2026/04/08/rekordnyj-rost-tarifov-zhkh-v-rossii-2026-v-kakih-regionah-czeny-vyrosli-na-20/).

            What that means is that some parts of the Russian Federation are suffering far more than others and that the average figures, while bad, are like what the Russians call “the average temperature in a hospital,” something that sounds meaningful but in fact ignores the reality that many are suffering from high fevers while others are in fact already dead.

            Many analysts attribute the increases to the costs of Putin’s war in Ukraine; but the diversity in their level reflects the fact that in some of the more depressed regions, housing is extremely dilapidated and has not been repaired for a long time. And it is there in particular that Russians have taken to social media to complain and to declare themselves unable to pay.

            Residents in some of the regions most seriously affected are complaining to their deputies and have even held protest demonstrations in places far from Moscow, like Tobolsk. But “for the time being,” Govorit NeMoskva says, officials aren’t doing anything more than promising to “keep the matter under review.”