Ukraine's Opposition Platform Alarmed By Record High Prices For Gas, Heat

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th December, 2020) The Ukrainian government has set a record high gas price in the country's history, raising the average cost of 1,000 cubic meters (35.3 cubic feet) of gas in January 2021 to $380, despite offers to minimize cost, Ukraine's Opposition Platform � For Life party said on Monday.

The opposition party has repeatedly proposed the government a mechanism of reducing tariffs for the population, namely to organize direct deliveries of Russian gas to Ukraine. In March 2019, the chairman of the political council of Opposition Platform � For Life party, Viktor Medvedchuk and its leader, Yuriy Boyko, held a meeting with then-Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller. Miller saidat the meeting that Gazprom was ready to hold talks on gas supplies to Ukraine, reducing gas prices for the end consumer in Ukraine under a new contract by as much as 25 percent. Kiev, however, has so far failed to take any steps to approve this mechanism.

"During the 2020-2021 heating season, citizens of Ukraine will fully face the incompetence and criminal actions of the current ZeTeam [President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's administration] in terms of their utility bills. To begin with, a record gas price in the history of the country was set for the Ukrainians - 8,800 hryvnias ($310) per 1,000 cubic meters plus delivery.

And in January 2021, the average gas price in the country will be 10,779 hryvnias. In addition, an increase in tariffs for water supply and electricity has already been announced," the party said in a statement.

The Opposition Platform emphasized that tariffs for heat production will also increase in 2021, and in some regions the difference with current tariffs will be almost 50 percent, while on average the cost will increase by about 30 percent throughout the country.

According to the statement, the increase occurs when there are real economic preconditions and tools for more than a twofold reduction in the cost of gas and hence a reduction in tariffs for both heating and hot water supply.

Ukraine has stopped importing natural gas from Russia since November 2015 and has not used Russian fuel since while preparing for the heating season, preferring instead to pump gas purchased by reverse in Europe to storage facilities.

In December 2019, Russia and Ukraine signed a set of agreements on extending transit of Russian gas through Ukraine's territory, including a transit contract, according to which, Russian Gazprom gas company guarantees pumping 65 billion cubic meters (2.29 trillion cubic feet) of gas in the first year, and 40 billion cubic meters (1.4 trillion cubic feet) each year for the subsequent four years.