Cabinet cancels reduced electricity tariff for households from Jan 1

The Cabinet of Ministers, Ukraine's government, has canceled the reduced electricity tariff for households from January 1, 2021.

The relevant decision was made at a meeting on Monday, an UNIAN correspondent reported.

"From January, the draft resolution provides for the extension of the PSOs (public service obligations on the electricity market) until March 31, 2021, the establishment of a fixed price for households at UAH 1.68 (US$0.06) per 1 kWh from January 1, 2021 to March 31," said Acting Energy Minister Yuriy Vitrenko.

According to the official, if the government does not pass today's resolution, the electricity tariff will grow by over 60% since it becomes market.

Read alsoEnergy ministry mulling over rising electricity tariffs for householdsElectricity 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 December 18, 2020, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said he did not agree with the fact that electricity tariffs for Ukrainian industrial consumers were among the highest in Europe. In his opinion, on the contrary, they are among the lowest.