Ukrainians may pay more for housing and utilities soon / Photo from UNIAN
The Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities claims a new increase in housing and utilities tariffs for households is needed.
"Given an increase in prices of energy, price hikes of materials and technical resources, changes in the minimum wage, more expensive services by subcontractors, it's objective necessity to review tariffs for housing and utilities services and bring them to economically feasible levels," the ministry's department on the economy of essential services said on the ministry's official website.
Gas and electricity costs account for more than 60% of the heat supply tariff, while the share of electricity in the water supply tariff is 35%, the ministry said.
Also, the ministry reported that losses of housing and municipal services in 2014 amounted to UAH 3.1 billion, whereas their losses in the eight months of this year totaled UAH 2.7 billion, according to industry statistics.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the National Commission for Regulation in the Energy Sector and Utilities as of April 1, 2015, raised the minimum price of gas for households by 3.3 times, to UAH 3,600 per 1,000 cubic meters when fuel consumption is no more than 200 cubic meters. The increase was under a memorandum with the country's key creditor, the International Monetary Fund.
Heat supply tariffs also grew for households as of April 1: by 72% to UAH 537.2 per Gcal, while power rates for the public increased by 19% on average.
What is more, September 1, 2015, the minimum power rate for households is going up by 24.6%, to UAH 0.456 per kWh.