OPPOSITION PLATFORM – FOR LIFE has requested that the government revises its gas and heating rates for population immediately and revokes last year’s resolution on stricter rules for subsidy eligibility. This was stated by MP Serhiy Lovochkin on the eve of the new heating season.

“If no urgent measures are taken, the situation with the population’s debt for gas and heating will create an emergency condition and lead to the collapse of the entire housing and utility sector. Users have covered 17bln hryvnia of the indebtedness over spring and summer, but as of the start of the heating season they still owe 52bln hryvnia to utilities providers. This amount will grow inevitably and rapidly, because the government did nothing to leverage the financial burden upon Ukrainian families.

“This is why OPPOSITION PLATFORM – FOR LIFE demands that the Cabinet revises its gas and heating rates for population immediately, including through entering into a direct gas contract with Russia. This will allow decreasing the price to 3,800 – 4,000 hryvnia per 1,000 cubic meters of gas and lower heating rates for the population,” Lovochkin stated.

“In addition, the resolution on stricter subsidy eligibility rules from 2018 must be revoked. It has led to a twofold drop in the number of subsidized families. Even members of the previous administration had acknowledged that the resolution was way too strict, but the new Cabinet is doing nothing to revoke it,” the MP said.

According to the politician, the new government keeps creating problems instead of solving them. Despite a decrease in gas price, the Cabinet is discussing the increase in the heating rates for the population. At the same time the state owes 19bln hryvnia to local budgets as a compensation for rate differential, which might force Naftohaz stop supplying gas to district heating providers.

“As of today, Naftohaz’s debtors list includes 74 district heating enterprises across Ukraine. This is the list of regions that might be left without heating at any moment during the cold season. If the situation with ratemaking and subsidies is not changed, the entire country will get on the same list by the end of the year,” Lovochkin said.