SOCAR continues to evade answers to Turan's questions

Baku/23.06.23/Turan: The correspondence between the Turan news agency and SOCAR has become protracted  because of the latter's fault. The company and its structural unit for “Azerigaz” cannot clearly answer the agency's questions. In fact, SOCAR evades the answers on the merits while using incorrect grounds or deliberately leaves the question unanswered.

In total, two responses were received: to the letter and to the information request. The latter was sent to the agency on June 16 signed by Rashad Javadov, Deputy General Director for Sales at “Azerigaz,” who answered the following questions of the Information request of the Director of Turan Mehman Aliyev dated May 31, 2023:

1.Why was there a response to my letter dated April 14, 2023, for No. 558 within the statutory period of 24 hours to 15 days? Is not providing an answer the norm and an accident for SOCAR?

Answer: Referring to the law “On citizens' appeals,” Javadov claims that the response is submitted within the time prescribed by law for a response from 15 to 30 working days. But my appeal to SOCAR was not from citizen Mehman Aliyev, but from journalist Mehman Aliyev, which is confirmed by the form on which the appeal and the position are written: Director of Turan  Information Agency. This means that our relations are built primarily in accordance with the Law on Media, and secondly, the appeal refers to two articles published on the problems raised by the agency and contains a request to clarify (!). The issues raised in the articles and in the letter have not been clarified, despite the letter and the information request. At the same time, the answers to the questions were received with the assistance of the Office of the Ombudsman for Human Rights, for which the agency is grateful. The response to the information request came late in violation of the law “On access to information.”

2. Why were not the problems indicated in the letter fixed clearly and unambiguously? Can this be considered as your solidarity with the illegal actions of your “Azerigaz” division?

Answer: The response indicates only one of the two episodes concerning the litigation of tenants of an apartment building with “Azerigaz” software. But nothing is said about the illegal seizure of the gas meter, without notifying the consumer, which also created a threat to the safety of housing. The response notes that in order to express an attitude to the question of the illegality of actions, the requesting party must refer to the relevant regulatory legal act with an indication of the relevant article.

On this occasion, we can say that paragraph 4.6 of the Rules on the Use of Gas of the Cabinet of Ministers has been violated. 

Regarding the litigation, it should be noted that the trial lasts about a year and “Azerigaz” cannot justify charging for gas not consumed by residents.

3.According to our information, there are more than 50 contracting organizations working with “Azerigaz”, 90% of the work is conducted by two contracting organizations "Azeriqaz Laihe Inşaat" and LLC "Metin qazı"; then what is the expediency of such a number of contractors? Who is behind these two monopolists? Is this a corruption abuse on the part of the management of “Azerigaz”?

Answer: “Azerigaz” claims that there is no contracting company named “Azəriqaz Laihe Inşaat” and  not a word is said about  "Metinqaz" MMC. It says that the  activities of contractors are transparent.

Here is a mention of “Azəriqaz Laihe Inşaat”: 

https://bizim.media/az/read/5848/, 

https://2gis.az/baku/directions/points/%7C49.861658%2C40.410484%3B70000001044747445 ,

https://www.facebook.com/azeriqazaz/posts/2465759620403334/ ,

https://qafqazinfo.az/news/detail/azeriqaz-layihe-insaat-ve-temiz-qaz-fonda-20-min-kocurdu-282045

“Azerigaz” is not a department of the ministry, but it is a full-fledged production association. From the point of view of economic feasibility, all production forces should be concentrated in the software structure in order to increase work efficiency and reduce costs. In fact, contractors perform locksmith and welding work, and this is not a specific activity that should be performed by any specialized contracting structure, for example in the field of ICT. And as I pointed out in question 3 and in the public address of September 10, 2022, such a system of relations leads to increased costs and abuses. Do you agree with this?

Answer: The response refers to the  Article 13.2 of the law “On gas supply,” which the consumer determines the choice of the contractor. But this one is about something else entirely. And there is not a word about the concept of contractor in it.  But that is not the point. The question is that the contracting system is irrational. “Azerigaz” is a production unit of a narrow profile, and the tasks related to providing gas directly fall on him. This unit should not delegate them to other organizations. Contractors may be non-core organizations, such as ICT. It is clear that the contract scheme is a huge waste of funds, leading to a decrease in the profitability of SOACR. Each contracting company is a management team, additional expenses, and low responsibility. This was discussed in our previous articles.

5. Recently, “Azerigaz” has replaced meters working on prepayment with mechanical meters with the principle of payment for the fact of gas use. My experience of researching this issue gives reason to believe that this will lead to:

- To the growth of subscribers' debt (a vivid example of this was given by Mr. Iskanderov in a reply letter),

-“Azerigaz” will lose subsidizing its activities due to prepayment, that is, crediting subscribers to purchase gas and provide services,

-Will increase the number of employees who have to take meter readings,

- In general, profitability and financial stability will be disrupted.

Do you agree with this?

Answer: It is said that 93% of the population show high discipline in paying for gas consumed, mechanical meters are cheaper and no worse than smart meters, since they are electronic and are read at a distance.

It follows from the answer that 7% of subscribers do not show high discipline, which is about 180 thousand subscribers. With smart meters, the subscriber's debt is completely excluded. About the cheapness of mechanical meters. This is true. But subscribers of smart meters use gas on prepayment. And if we have 2.5 million subscribers provided with smart meters, then the constant subsidization of “Azerigaz” can range from 25 million to 100 million manats; this is interest-free software lending.

As for the so-called remote maintenance of mechanical meters. The fact is that inspectors deliver monthly bills to the owners of mechanical meters for payment. With smart meters, there is no such service and there is no need for it. And now imagine how many inspectors participate in servicing more than 2 million subscribers with mechanical meters and what these costs are. As for the debts that form the payment system in fact, the debts will inevitably grow, and we will come to a state when in 2013 the state paid SOCAR the debt of the population for gas in the amount of 500 million dollars, although  then  the Director of  Turan agency, Mehman Aliyev, argued that the debt was invented by “Azerigaz.” Now this argument is supported by the facts. For the period up to 2013 , the number of subscribers was approximately 780 thousand , and consumption was about 2.5 billion cubic meters, today the number of subscribers is 2.5 million, and consumption is about 2.5 billion cubic meters. That is, about 1.5 billion cubic meters per year were postscript and counted as volumes not paid by consumers, i.e. debt.

Turan News Agency is not satisfied with SOCAR's response. It is not constructive, evasive, and is aimed at protecting corporate and personal interests, but not the state and consumers.

According to our information, in early May, an inspection of contractors for “Azerigaz” was conducted. We would be interested to know its results.

Previous articles about the topic

Structural unit of SOCAR together with the courts violate the rights of citizens

I`ve heard about judges who don`t read the cases under consideration, but I had to see it for the first time

Will 'smart' gas meters put an end to casualties and intrusions?

SOCAR blocks access to information