‘Sverdlovsk Region owes us about 2 billion RUR for the previous heating season services; this is an unprecedented amount of money, in fact,’ the spokesperson for Uralsevergaz Oleg Vlasov said to an UrBC reporter.


‘This year’s heating season is to start on September 15, 2009. Prior to this, we must get all the money from our debtors; otherwise we simply won’t be able to purchase the natural gas to launch the seasonal services. This is exactly why we had to employ some thoroughgoing measures: if the debt happens to be pending for over two months, we’ll have to stop supplying the gas to the debtor. So, the management companies and the municipalities will probably need to create some alternative reserves consisting of turf, coal, and residual oil. However, no company has done this so far: these kinds of fuel will only be delivered following an advance payment, and no one has the money to make this payment. This means Sverdlovsk Region is totally unprepared for the heating season,’ Vlasov explained.