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Boyko said the current figures are extremely low.
Newly appointed acting Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko says the ministry is confident that electricity tariffs for households are "extremely low," therefore, they should be raised.
The current tariff, when a household pays UAH 0.90 (US$0.03) per 1 kWh (with a consumption of up to 100 kWh) is extremely low, the official government gazette Uriadovy Kurier wrote on December 3, referring to Boyko.
Electricity prices are expected to grow in the first half of 2021, the publication said.
Read alsoUkraine's electricity price highest in EU in Q2 – European Commission
"We face the objective need to revise the approaches to the formation of tariffs for household consumers. We have the following fact: enterprises pay more, while housholds pay less. If the state wants to help those [households], it should take money from the budget, rather than from industrial enterprises," he summed up.
Electricity tariff for Ukrainians
In Ukraine, the price of electricity for households has remained unchanged since 2017, amounting to UAH 0.90 (US$0.03) per 1 kWh with a consumption of up to 100 kWh, and UAH 1.68 (US$0.06) per kWh over 100 kWh.
At the same time, for industrial consumers, electricity prices are formed based on market mechanisms and range from UAH 2.5 (US$0.09) to UAH 4 (US$0.14) per kWh.
Increased tariffs
On June 19, 2020, the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC) proposed that the National Power Company (NPC) Ukrenergo's tariffs be increased by four times from August.
On June 26, 2020, the NEURC tentatively approved a doubling of Ukrenergo's tariffs.
On August 26, 2020, the European Commission released a report, saying that electricity tariffs in Ukraine are one third higher than in Europe.
On November 26, 2020, newly appointed acting Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko said one of the important issues in the sector is the revision of the existing cross-subsidization mechanism from 2021, according to which households get electricity at a reduced price.