What happened?
On 17 March 2020, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted the Law “On Amending Certain Legal Acts of Ukraine aimed at Preventing the Onset and Spread of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)” (the “Law”). The Law banned for the period of quarantine and 30 days from the day of its cancellation any sanctions or administrative measures for untimely payments of housing and communal services. Furthermore, the Law prohibited termination and/or suspension of the provision of housing and communal services to citizens of Ukraine in case of non-payment (or a failure to pay in full). The above amendments and introduction of the quarantine led to a significant reduction of payments for electricity from consumers to the electricity suppliers and the universal services suppliers. In turn, the electricity suppliers and the universal services suppliers reduced payments to the distribution system operators, while electricity producers and distributions system operators reduced payments to the transmission system operator – Ukrenergo. As a result, all market participants experience delays in payments and a daily increase of debts.
What measures have been applied?
On 8 April 2020, the National Energy and Utilities Commission of Ukraine (NEURC) adopted Resolution No. 766 “On Actions of Electricity Market Participants during the Quarantine and Restrictive Measures Related to the Spread of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)” (the “Resolution”), as amended on 15 April 2020. The Resolution includes the following measures to stabilise the situation with a decrease in consumer payments and debts of other participants on the electricity market.
