Fraudulent payments: water utilities forced Ukrainians to pay more

In Ukraine, water utilities were found to have overstated bills for services provided, manipulated the settlement system, and established subscriber fees. This became the subject of an investigation by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.

It was confirmed that two water utilities committed actions that contradicted the legislation regulating economic competition. The basis for opening the case was consumer appeals about anomalous charges on their bills. The inspection showed that one of the water utilities began charging an increased subscription fee from the beginning of the new year, including the cost of meter servicing, which is illegal under the law, as it does not allow such costs to be included in the subscription fee. In addition, the company applied a single tariff for different consumers, which violates the principles of tariff formation.

Another water utility, according to the regulator, charged water tariffs to the population until the beginning of June 2024, then changed its charging rules, leading to an unjustified increase in some consumers’ bills.

As a result of the established violations, fines totaling more than 11 million hryvnias were imposed on water utilities. The Antimonopoly Committee emphasized that such actions undermine consumer trust and violate the foundations of fair competition, so its control over the activities of monopolists in the utility sector will be strengthened.

In addition, it was previously reported on the possibility of refunding funds to Ukrainians for utility services due to large-scale tariff manipulations, on future discounts on heating for specific categories of consumers, and on the projected increase in tariffs.