The financial state of district heating enterprises is critical: gas debts exceeded 100 billion hryvnias

The financial and economic condition of district heating enterprises in Ukraine is in a critical situation due to accumulated gas debts, frozen tariffs, and the state's failure to fulfill its obligations to compensate for the difference in tariffs. This was discussed during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy and Housing and Communal Services, UNN reports.

Details

During the discussion, Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development Kostiantyn Kovalchuk noted that enterprises in the industry are not actually developing, but are forced to survive in conditions of war, frosts, account arrests, and lack of budget support.

According to the deputy minister, the total debt of district heating companies for consumed gas already exceeds UAH 100 billion, with more than half of this amount accumulated during the full-scale war.

He emphasized that enterprises are limited by legislative moratoriums on tariff increases, the absence of compensation for tariff differences, and the constant increase in fines, penalties, and sanctions, which were not provided for in the tariff structure and further worsen the financial situation.

It was also noted that the state budget currently does not actually provide funds to cover the underfunding of the industry, despite the fact that earlier in the draft budget for 2024, it was planned to allocate more than UAH 15 billion for this purpose.

Separately, the meeting participants drew attention to the mechanism for allocating 4% of personal income tax, which, according to their calculations, amounts to about UAH 15 billion per year, but is insufficient even to cover the debts of district heating companies, not to mention the needs of the water supply and sewerage sector.

As an example, the situation in Mykolaiv was cited, where annual revenues from these 4% of personal income tax amount to about UAH 176 million, while the debt from the difference in tariffs exceeds UAH 1.2 billion, and the gas debt is more than UAH 700 million. A similar situation, according to industry representatives, is observed in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, and many other communities.

Representatives of community associations also drew attention to the mass blocking of enterprise accounts in 69 communities due to unpaid tariff differences, which leads to the accrual of penalties and the actual cessation of operations of heat supply companies.

Among the proposals is the introduction, for the period of martial law, of a ban on blocking the accounts of district heating enterprises in case of non-reimbursement by the state of the difference in tariffs, as well as the suspension of fines and penalties.

Separately, the issue of gas consumption limits was raised, which, according to the meeting participants, do not take into account the extremely low temperatures this winter, which creates additional risks for the stable passage of the heating season.

The meeting participants emphasized that without a systemic solution to the problem of tariff differences and financial support for the industry, there are serious risks of disrupting the next heating season.

Recall

In Kharkiv, the situation after the damage to the thermal power plant and substations was classified as a local man-made emergency. About 60% of subscribers remain without electricity, and 105,000 without heat.