Utilities are overcharging citizens for heat
Inflated heating rates result in citizens overpaying hundreds of millions of hryvnias. This according to the participants of a press conference organized in Kyiv on January 21 by the Committee for the Protection of Citizens’ Constitutional Rights and Freedoms, Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Committee and Opora Civic Network with support of the International Renaissance Foundation’s Rule of Law Program.
The activists pointed out that that law on utilities states that rate increases shouldn’t surpass the rate of income growth. However, for example, in Luhansk in 2005-2011 the cost to heat 1 sq. m. increased by 0.80 hryvnias to 7.57 hryvnias (9 times), while the minimum wage for the same period grew from 332 hryvnias to 941 (3 times).
Experts stressed that the same methods are used to set inflated rates in every city: utilities use outdated norms for heating buildings based on cold winters recorded in 1881-1960. They say that this allows them to obtain additional funds to cover negligent expenses, non-payment by other consumers and mask the critical situation in the utilities sector. As a result, every year consumers overpay considerable amounts.
Activists are urging the authorities to introduce the practice of recalculating the cost of heating consumption taking into account the different between the normative temperatures and actual outdoor temperatures and returning excess payments to consumers. This is already being done in Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus, where appropriate methods have been approved. They also propose eliminating current energy use standards.
Contacts:
Committee for the Protection of Citizens’ Constitutional Rights and Freedoms
Mykola Kozyrev
+380 99 553 20 49
knk_247@ukr.net
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The aim of the Rule of Law Program is to support the civil society initiatives directed to the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, to promote strengthened legal consciousness and public activity at the central and local levels.
