Ukrainian govt delays secondary legislation to enforce debt repayment on balancing power market – Rada energy committee chair
Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Energy are delaying the adoption of necessary secondary regulations to implement a law requiring accelerated repayment of consumer debts on the electricity balancing market, according to Andriy Gerus, chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy and Utilities.
"We passed provisions in the law requiring special accounts for debtors and an algorithm allowing 50% of their revenues to be automatically deducted for electricity payments. But for this to work, the Cabinet had to adopt secondary legislation, and since that hasn't happened, neither the special accounts nor the algorithm are functioning. Laws must be enforced. It frustrates me when we pass a law, but its transitional provisions are ignored and there are no mechanisms to discipline such payers," Gerus said at the X Business & Legal Energy Forum in Kyiv on Tuesday.
He added that as a result, new debts are accumulating faster than Ukrenergo can repay existing ones.
"This is the consequence of 'coordinated' work between branches of power. In my view, this is unacceptable," Gerus said.
As reported, Law No. 4213-IX of January 14, 2025 amended energy and heat supply legislation to require electricity debtors (protected consumers or consumers with facilities designated as critical infrastructure) to open a special-use account with an authorized bank. All revenue from such consumers' business activities must be deposited into this account, with 50% directed toward repaying electricity arrears (up to the total owed). The Cabinet, upon the Ministry of Energy's proposal, was tasked with approving the allocation algorithm. Under the law's transitional provisions, the government had four months to adopt the necessary regulations.
One of Ukrenergo's largest balancing market debtors is the Supplier of Last Resort, Ukrinterenergo, due to electricity supplies to many consumers who have not paid but cannot be disconnected because of their economic and security importance. According to Ukrenergo, as of mid-2025, debts to the company on the balancing market stood at UAH 38 billion, while Ukrenergo itself owed market participants UAH 15 billion.
According to information on the Rada website, the Cabinet of Ministers, in pursuance of Law No. 4213-IX, approved the procedure for distributing funds from an account with a special use regime by Resolution No. 833 of July 14, 2025, which comes into effect 45 days after publication and until January 1, 2028.