Without an increase in electricity rates for households, the energy sector will not be able to prepare for the winter.
The government will no longer delay raising electricity rates for households, because otherwise Ukraine will not be able to prepare for the next heating season, said Maksym Bielawski, an energy expert and chairman of the Supervisory Board of Zaporizhzhya Abrasive Combined Works PJSC during an Energy Club discussion.
"In preparation for the heating season, which will begin in five months, there will be an issue of financial liquidity of the electricity market. I personally believe that it will be necessary to introduce differentiated electricity rates for households. We will have to change the price cap (price limit on the electricity market - UNIAN), otherwise it will not be possible to collect funds from all the electricity market actors," he said.
The expert believes that the country is late cancelling administrative regulation of electricity prices. It missed the most favourable situation for this in 2021. However, the current lack of funds for preparation for the next winter will not allow the government to further postpone the increase.
"I believe that in the next few months we will face changes that should have happened two years ago. Without these changes, it will be quite difficult to prepare for the heating season on time and properly," said Bielawski.
The situation with electricity rates in Ukraine
As UNIAN reported, on March 31, preferential electricity rates for the population were in effect, but the government extended them until the end of April.
In April, the government postponed the increase in electricity rates for households for another month. The current rates will be in force until May 31 of this year.
Currently, the rate for individual consumers is 1.44 UAH per kWh for consumption of up to 250 kW and 1.68 UAH for more than 250 kWh per month.
According to Kostyantyn Ushchapovskyi, the head of the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission, the current electricity rate for households covers only a quarter of the costs of its production, transportation and tax payments. According to him, an economically justified rate for households is about UAH 6 per kWh.
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