The Cabinet of Ministers will submit a bill on merging of gas distribution companies to the Verkhovna Rada in the near future, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote on Facebook on Monday.

"The government is developing a bill on merging of gas supplying companies, which will remove the issue of sky-high payments for gas distribution [the so-called 'customer fee']. We plan to approve it in the near future and submit it to the Verkhovna Rada," he wrote.

Earlier, MP Roksolana Pidlasa (the Servant of the People faction) announced intention to submit to parliament a bill that would establish the presence of at least 100,000 customers as a condition for the operation of gas distribution companies on the market.

According to her, small gas supplying companies raise prices because they apportion their administrative costs "not to 200,000 customers, but to 10,000."

As reported, the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC) at a meeting on January 19 approved the reduction of tariffs for gas distribution from 3.5% to 30% for 14 operators of gas distribution networks from February 1, 2021.