At present, there is no reason to raise tariffs for housing and utility services for households, Ukraine's Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Utilities Minister Hennadiy Temnyk has said.

"As minister responsible for the housing and utilities sector, I believe that the rates and that the amount of funds that we are currently collecting will be sufficient, and there will be no need to raise the rates, provided that the modernization [of housing and utilities] is carried out," the minister said at a press conference on Thursday.

"This is my personal opinion and the opinion of the ministry," Temnyk added.

First Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Construction, Urban Development, Housing, Utilities and Regional Policy Hennadiy Zubkov told reporters in late May that the price of utility services had started to grow by 27-30% in almost all regional centers of the country following the rise in electricity prices and the increase in minimum wages in Ukraine.

In response, the Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Utilities Ministry asked regional state administrations to check the economic justification for the increase in housing and utility rates by local governments in 2013, and to cancel such decisions if there were no good reason to raise the tariffs. Temnyk also said that local governments should focus on technical re-equipment of the public utilities via attracting investment in the sector, which will allow the saving of energy and costs in general.