The debt of Kyiv residents for water supply, heating and drainage has reached UAH 7.5 billion, and therefore system debtors were charged a penalty on their receipts for June, Kyivteploenergo reported on Telegram on Thursday.

As the company informed, the total debt of Kyiv residents for hot water supply and heating services consumed is more than UAH 6.2 billion, and for cold water supply and drainage services - about UAH 1.2 billion.

“That is, the total debt for these services is almost UAH 7.5 billion. Citizens who systematically do not pay for services and do not apply for an installment plan are charged a penalty. It is reflected in the receipts for June,” noted the company.

According to the director of the Energozbut structural unit of Kyivteploenergo, Kostiantyn Lopatin, the vast majority of Kyiv residents pay conscientiously for consumed utilities, without causing the accumulation of debt.

“Many citizens take advantage of debt restructuring if they are unable to pay the entire amount at once. There are about a million personal accounts in the capital, of which 160,000 have accumulated debt for a long time and do not apply for restructuring. Almost UAH 4.5 billion of debt falls on these 16%. About 10% of subscribers did not make any payment for the services consumed for the entire last heating season of 2023/2024,” said Lopatin.

He emphasized that the consequences of non-payment are especially critical for the operation of enterprises in conditions of energy shortages.

As Lopatin explained, the only method of dealing with debtors is penalties, as required by current legislation. In particular, in December 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted resolution No. 1405, which lifted the moratorium on the application of penalties to debtors. Also, according to Part 1 of Article 26 of the law on housing and communal services, in case of late payments, the consumer is obliged to pay a fine in the amount established in the contract, but not higher than 0.01% of the debt amount for each day of delay.

The company, despite the increase in the cost of tariff components, in particular natural gas, maintains prices for heat and hot water for Kyiv residents at the usual level. At the same time, the issue of repaying the debt due to the difference in tariffs to ensure the uninterrupted operation of heating and utilities enterprises is still unresolved. The matter concerns the state's fulfilling its obligations to compensate for the difference in tariffs generated by heat supply enterprises for local budgets.