The National Commission for Energy Regulation (NCER) from August 1, 2013 will increase the tariff of National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom on the transmission of electricity by 2.8%, from 21.6 kopecks to 22.2 kopecks per kilowatt-hour (value added tax not included).

The press service of the regulator told Interfax-Ukraine that the decision was made at a closed-door meeting on Thursday.

The Energoatom's tariff on transmission of heat generated by nuclear power plants (NPPs) was also increased by 2.8%, from UAH 34.88 to UAH 35.85 per Gcal (value added tax not included).

The commission said that the additionally raised funds will be sent to finance a comprehensive program on the increase of NPPs' safety in Ukraine.

As reported, the financial operation of Energoatom mainly depends on the tariff on electricity, which the NCER approves.

In February 2012, the NCER reduced the tariff of Energoatom for electricity transmission by 6.8% from March 2012, from 22.64 to 21.10 kopecks per kilowatt-hour. From January 1, 2013, the commission cut the tariff by 2.7%, 21.1 kopecks to 20.53 kopecks per kilowatt-hour, and from February 1, 2013 the tariff was increased by 5.2%, to 21.6 kopecks per kilowatt-hour.

Energoatom several times said that the current tariff should be increased by at least 5.7 kopecks, to 27.3 kopecks per kilowatt-hour, so that the company is able to fulfill the production, investment and social programs.

The company said that the existing tariff does not allow the company to realize the planned programs in full, including a program on the increase of safety of NPPs.

In 2012, Energoatom saw UAH 2.73 billion in net loss compared to UAH 2.384 billion in net profit in 2011.

The share of electricity generated by NPPs and sold on the Energomarket in 2012 came to 45.5%, a fall of 1 percentage notch year-over-year, while the share of thermal power plants and combined heat and power plants grew from 43.7% to 44.7%.

Energoatom is the operator of all four Ukrainian-based operating nuclear power plants, which have 15 VVER reactors with an overall generating capacity of 13.835 gigawatts.