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Kahkonen says more time is needed to get the right conditions in place for the market to function properly.
World Bank Director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova Satu Kahkonen says Ukraine will not be ready to launch a new electricity market on July 1, 2019.
"Unfortunately, in our view, Ukraine will not be ready to open the electricity market on July 1. It will take some more time to get the right conditions in place for the market to function properly. Under the current circumstances, if the market is opened too early, the users, Ukrainian people, would be hurt," she said at a press conference in Kyiv on May 23.
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In this regard, the official recommended that the Ukrainian government prepare a detailed action plan to launch the market.
"Therefore, we recommend that a very detailed plan is prepared with the timeline for the opening so that we don't miss another deadline yet again," she added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, acting head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex Oleksandr Dombrovsky on May 23 announced that a bill to postpone the launch of a new electricity market from July 1 to October 1, which would mitigate the existing risks, had been registered in parliament.
According to Dombrovsky, there are challenges related to the availability of software and the adoption of some dubious regulatory decisions. He says three months will be enough to conduct a fundamental internal audit and test all system elements.
In addition, technical risks associated with launching the market on July 1 are also subject to political risks caused by the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, and the resignation of the Cabinet.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman earlier said it was impossible to transfer the launch of a new electricity market from July 1 to another date.
UNIAN memo. In April 2017, the Verkhovna Rada passed draft Law on the Electrical Energy Market. According to one of the authors of the document, Ukrainian MP Lev Pidlisetskyy, the bill will lead to a competitive relationship in the segments of electricity generation and supplies for final consumers, which will force producers to increase their efficiency and remove inefficient power generation from the market. The introduction of the new electricity market will also allow people to choose electricity suppliers.