Employers demand immediate cancellation of the decision to raise tariffs
6 January 2025 20:43
The Federation of Employers of Ukraine has appealed to the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC) to reconsider the decision to increase the tariff for electricity transmission services by 30% in 2025. This was reported by [ komersant] with reference to the FEU website.
According to the FEU, the tariff increase is economically unjustified.
“The Federation’s proposals submitted in September and November 2024 were not taken into account. And the information about the NEURC meeting on the tariff increase was made public only a few hours before it was held,” the statement said.
The text of the statement has already been sent to Ukrenergo, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, the Committee on Economic Development and the Committee on Energy, Housing and Utilities of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
The FEU emphasizes that the tariff increase will have serious consequences for the Ukrainian economy. In particular, it will lead to
- a drop in production, including in industries strategically important for the defense sector;
- a decrease in tax revenues, especially in the context of a deficit budget;
- loss of foreign exchange earnings, which worsens the country’s economic situation;
- layoffs, which will have negative socio-economic consequences;
- deterioration in the competitiveness of Ukrainian goods both on the domestic and foreign markets.
In addition, Ukrainian employers are concerned about the fact that the tariff includes the cost of repaying the debts of NPC Ukrenergo in the amount of UAH 4.2 billion, which unreasonably increases the financial pressure on industry. In our opinion, it was necessary to restructure Ukrenergo’s loans and postpone payments until after the end of martial law.
In this regard, the Federation of Employers of Ukraine calls for
- immediately cancel the decision to increase the tariff for electricity transmission services and organize full public discussions with the participation of all stakeholders;
- to publish a detailed calculation of the main cost items of NPC Ukrenergo that led to the tariff increase;
- restructure the body of Ukrenergo’s loans to defer payments for the period after the end of martial law;
- ensure the operation of mechanisms that will make it impossible for the NEURC to make non-public decisions in the future;
- revise the tariff for electricity transmission services for 2025, taking into account the proposals submitted by the FEU.
