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The price includes VAT and the cost of transmitting gas through main and distribution pipelines.
The final price of gas for household consumers of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine from April 1, 2019, will amount to UAH 8.38 (US$0.30) per cubic meter, which is 2% below the price set by the government.
"In March, Naftogaz companies took advantage of the attractive market situation and purchased sufficient volumes of gas to provide it to household consumers. Given this, the gas supplying company, which is part of Naftogaz, will reduce by 2% the April price for its household consumers in Kirovohrad region and other regions, without setting the supplier's maximum allowed trade margin," the company press service said.
"Thus, the final price of gas for household consumers of Naftogaz of Ukraine will amount to UAH 8.38 per cubic meter instead of UAH 8.55 (US$0.31) per cubic meter," the report says.
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According to the press service, this price includes VAT and the cost of transmitting gas through main and distribution pipelines.
It is also reported that Naftogaz has reduced the cost of gas for industrial consumers. In April, industrial consumers of Naftogaz will buy gas at a price of UAH 7,188 (US$263) per 1,000 cubic meters, which is 19% less than the price in March (including VAT).
As UNIAN reported earlier, on March 14, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev said that the price of gas on the European market had fallen below the rates applied when selling gas to households in Ukraine, set by the Ukrainian government in its resolution of October 19, 2018.
Taking this into consideration, to create competitive relations in the gas market for the population, Naftogaz proposed that the government cancel state regulation of gas prices for households so that consumers could choose their supplier offering the best price, as is now the case in the industrial consumer market.
In October 2018, the Cabinet of Ministers raised gas prices for the population by 23.5% from November 1, to UAH 8,550 (about US$316) per 1,000 cubic meters.
Ukraine pledged to raise gas prices for households by 15% from May 1, 2019, and further from 2020 to equate gas prices to the market ones, as is stipulated in the memorandum on economic and financial policies under the Stand-By Arrangement between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman on March 15 instructed National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine and the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine to begin negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on not raising gas prices from May 1 this year, given the decline in European prices.