Experts call on parliament to pass law on unified state power monitoring system
KYIV. April 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Experts and the creators of the unified state system for monitoring production, supply, transportation, consumption and payments for fuel, energy resources and utilities services have called on lawmakers to pass a law on the introduction of the system at a press conference held at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
Chief designer of the project on the creation of the system Serhiy Korneyev said that draft law No. 1640 was sent to the parliament in December 2014.
He said that the draft laws on the creation of the monitoring system were passed by the parliament at first reading three times. They were supported by every faction; however the document has not yet been approved.
Korneyev said that existing tariffs in the Ukrainian energy sector are set several times higher compared to real expenses, which allows companies to accumulate $10-12 billion every year and transfer the money to offshore zones.
Expert on macroeconomic framework and shadow economy studies, PhD in economy, Candidate of Science Yuriy Kharazishvili, said that the energy companies set tariffs too high, they include paper expenses in them and these are too high.
The co-author of the bill Liubomyr Shkoruta said that the use of different units of measurement promotes setting the tariffs too high: gas supplied to heat supply companies is metered in thousand cubic meters, heat generated – in gigacalories, while consumers pay for services taking into account square meters of houses.
"This is the key source of distortion of the tariffs and corruption," he said.
The experts said that consumers pay billions of hryvnias annually for energy resources which they do not consume. In particular, in 2013, energy worth UAH 78.3 billion was supplied to the non-industrial sector, while UAH 245.6 million was accrued to pay for them.
The authors of the bill said that the introduction of the monitoring system will cut tariffs for households even considering the growth in prices for primary resources (gas, electricity), ensure 100% payment for utility services only using the funds of end consumers, and will lift the burden of subsidizing households from the budgets of all levels.
According to the experts, UAH 360-400 million is required to introduce the monitoring system across Ukraine over two years, while the economic effect will be UAH 17 billion.
Draft law No. 1640 was submitted by lawmakers from People's Front, Petro Poroshenko Block, Oleh Liashko's Radical Party and Batkivschyna.