The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, reported a paradoxical situation regarding heating bills in Kyiv, where residents received additional charges for January in their June invoices. He wrote about this on social media, UNN reports.
Details
The Ombudsman noted: people should only pay for the services they actually received. This situation causes quite understandable outrage, as it was in January of this year, following massive Russian shelling, that a significant part of the capital was left without heat supply.
This is also confirmed by statistics, Lubinets added.
Between January and March, our Office received over 600 appeals regarding the absence or improper provision of heat supply services. At the same time, the utility company "Kyivteploenergo" explains the additional charges as an automatic recalculation in accordance with Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 683
Given the situation, Lubinets appealed to the Vice Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine - Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, Oleksiy Kuleba, demanding a verification of the legality of such charges and the provision of clear explanations to consumers.
If heat supply was absent or provided improperly, consumer rights must be protected, and all decisions must be transparent, understandable, and legal. I am keeping this situation under control. It must be objectively and fairly resolved, taking consumer rights into account
Recall
First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko called it unacceptable to charge for heat that was not provided to Kyiv residents in January of this year. The Cabinet of Ministers will conduct inspections at the addresses of citizens' complaints.