From November 2026, utility bills for Almaty residents will show heating charges differently: instead of a calculation in tenge per square metre, the amount of heat consumed will be shown in gigacalories. The company Almaty Heating Networks (Almatinskiye Teplovyye Seti) announced this in response to residents' questions about why the tariff remains the same while the amounts on their bills change, infohub.kz reports.
The company explained that residents often asked why the heating bill differs from month to month even though the tariff does not change. The reason is that the approved tariff is set per gigacalorie of heat, but previously the final amount on bills was shown calculated per square metre of apartment space.
At the same time, each apartment building consumes a different amount of heat. The amount of heat a building actually consumed is recorded by a building-wide meter installed in every building.
In the updated bill, the "Heating" line will separately show the volume of heat — how many gigacalories were recorded for the billing period — the tariff, or the cost of one gigacalorie, and the charged amount, the final heating charge.
"This way, residents will be able to see what makes up the amount on their bill and how much heat was recorded for the billing period. The new format will make charges clearer and more transparent: residents will see not only the amount due but also the volume of heat on which it is based," the company said.