State-owned enterprises have been accumulating electricity debts for years, says former head of Ukrenergo
Chronic non-payment by state-owned and municipal enterprises remains one of the key causes of debt accumulation in the Ukrainian energy market.
This was stated by former head of NPC Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyi.
According to him, the problem is not only systemic but also rooted in corruption.
“There are two sides to the coin: one is systemic, and the other is petty corruption,” Kudritsky noted.
He emphasized that for years, there have been consumers in Ukraine who use electricity but do not pay for it in full.
“The major systemic problem is that there are consumers in Ukraine who have been drawing electricity from the grid for years without paying for it at all. And the most interesting thing is that these are mostly state-owned and municipal enterprises,” he explained.
Kudritsky stressed that this very practice places a significant burden on the power grid and contributes to the accumulation of debt in the balancing market.
Earlier, Alexander Kharchenko, director of the Center for Energy Research, also stated that a significant portion of the debts in the balancing market is generated by so-called protected consumers, who cannot be disconnected from the power supply.
“Because of this, the balancing market has effectively turned into a mechanism for accumulating debt for Ukrenergo,” Kharchenko noted.
The debt crisis in the Ukrainian electricity market is deepening, and the most difficult situation has developed in the balancing market.
Total debt in the Ukrainian electricity market amounts to approximately 200 billion hryvnia.
