Photo from UNIAN
Representatives of the Ukrainian government and leaders of factions and groups of the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) reached prior agreement at a meeting July 5 to set up an ad hoc group tasked with analyzing the situation with gas price in Ukraine, according to a posting on the government's website.
The ad hoc group is expected to carry out its task within a week, according to the posting.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman stated that the price of gas established in the country corresponds to the market level. And it is believed to help curb corruption in the gas sector.
"The introduction of the market price of gas will also help boost domestic gas production, increase energy efficiencyб and contribute to the energy independence of the state," the prime minister stressed.
Read alsoUkraine sees twofold increase in hot water and central heating tariffs from July 1"We will extract our own gas, we will do this in a way that will make us energy-independent. We will modernize the entire system to get rid of leaking pipes and houses with no normal heating," Groysman said.
The prime minister said that with its decision to introduce the market price of gas in Ukraine, the government has only determined the marginal price of gas, while tariffs for utility services are established by local authorities with the approval of the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities.
The prime minister also said that the state will provide targeted assistance to those who require such assistance, while those citizens "who have big houses and consume a lot of gas" will have to pay the whole market price.
The prime minister stated that during the last heating season, payments for heating and utilities bills accounted for 12% of household incomes.
As UNIAN reported earlier, yesterday Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy opened the evening parliamentary session late but had to immediately close it because of a blocked rostrum and presidium by MPs from Batkivshchyna and Radical Party. It was informed that the rostrum had been blocked due to the demands to set up a parliamentary commission of inquiry to deal with tariff issues.