REUTERS
State-owned operator of Ukraine's gas transportation system Ukrtransgaz has lifted restrictions on gas supplies to the capital's combined heat and power plant No. 6 (CHPP-6), introduced in late May due to the systematic failure to pay for gas transportation services and accumulated debt, according to the Corporate Communications Department of the national oil and gas holding Naftogaz of Ukraine.
Now Kyivtransgaz has carried out all work necessary for the resumption of gas supplies to CHPP-6 and is awaiting confirmation from PJSC Kyivgaz and the consumer on the readiness to accept it, the department said.
"Taking into account the negative social consequences of limiting the gas supplies to the said CHPP-6 and striving to avoid power grid imbalance in the city of Kyiv and its region, Ukrtransgaz agreed to resume gas supplies, although it has received only UAH 20 million [US$768,344] out of a UAH 61 million [$2.3 million] debt for the transportation of gas for electricity generation. Total debt of [local electricity supplier] PJSC Kyivenergo to Ukrtransgaz for transportation services is estimated at about UAH 330 million [$12.7 million]. This is almost half of the debt of all Ukrainian thermal energy producers to Ukrtransgaz," the report said.
Read alsoHot water in Kyiv may be partly unavailable until October because of gas debtsOn June 23, the Kyiv City State Administration sent a letter to Ukrtransgaz, which guaranteed control over the fulfillment by Kyivenergo its obligations to repay the debt to Ukrtransgaz in the amount of UAH 41 million, or $1.58 million, before June 30.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Kyivtransgaz, a structural unit of Ukrtransgaz and a subsidiary of Naftogaz, in late May, halted gas supplies to the capital's CHPP-6, which generates electricity and provides a number of districts with thermal energy. According to Kyivenergo, one of the main reasons the supplies were cut off was the outstanding debt for gas and its delivery.
The company's debts were due to the fact that the state did not pay off debts on subsidies, which covered part of the population's expenditures for the payment of utilities, Kyivenergo said.
On June 21, Ukrtransgaz stated it was ready to resume gas supplies to Kyiv's thermal power plants subject to payment of the debt worth UAH 60 million, or $2.3 million.