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The total debt has hardly changed since the beginning of 2020.
Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, Natalia Khotsianivska, says Ukrainian households' debts for housing and utility services exceeded UAH 63 billion (US$2.4 billion) as of May 1, 2020.
In particular, Ukrainians owe UAH 25.5 billion (US$956.8 million) for gas supplies, UAH 5.9 billion (US$221.4 million) for electricity, UAH 20 billion (US$750.5 million) for heating, UAH 5 billion (US$187.6 million) for cold water supplies, UAH 4.9 billion (US$183.9 million) for the maintenance of houses and adjacent areas, and UAH 1 billion (US$37.5 million) for household waste removal, the official government gazette Uriadovy Kurier wrote on June 25.
According to Khotsianivska, the debt issue may be resolved by adopting Bill No 3613 to amend certain laws of Ukraine on improving the procedure for repaying consumer debts for housing and utility services tabled in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, on June 9, 2020. The document proposes mandatory restructuring of debts, which will have been accumulated as of October 1, 2020, within up to five years.
Since the beginning of 2020, the total debt for housing and utility services has hardly changed.
Thus, households' debt for utility services consumed amounted to UAH 63.7 billion (US$2.4 billion) as of January 1, 2020, according to the State Statistics Service.
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The debt includes UAH 27.9 billion (US$1 billion) for natural gas supplies, UAH 20.4 billion (US$765.5 million) for heating and hot water supplies, UAH 5.1 billion (US$191.4 million) for the maintenance of houses, facilities and adjacent areas,
UAH 4.1 billion (US$153.8 million) for centralized cold water supplies and sewage services, UAH 0.8 billion (US$30 million) for household waste removal, and UAH 5.4 billion (US$202.6 million) for electricity.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Ukrainian government plans to tighten control over collecting debts for housing and utility services. The relevant bill was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada by a group of MPs from the Servant of the People Party. Now, the draft law is being considered by the profile committee. If the bill is passed, it will come into force in the autumn of 2020.