Kharkiv faced the threat of a large-scale crisis that could leave millions of residents without access to water. The debt crisis that engulfed the utility company “Kharkivvodokanal” put the city on the verge of an emergency situation. The lack of a timely solution to the debt problem can lead to a power outage, which will paralyze the water supply system and create critical conditions for residents.
From December 23, the city may be left without water due to the critical debt of the “Kharkivvodokanal” enterprise. About this reported Oleksandr Golizdra, an expert of the “Market.Info” agency.
According to him, the state enterprise “Ukrinterenergo” sent a letter to “Kharkivvodokanal” demanding to repay the debt. In October of this year alone, the company owed the energy industry 168 million hryvnias. The total amount of debt for electricity reaches an astronomical 2.255 billion hryvnias, including the debt for its distribution.
Representatives of the utility sector explain that this debt crisis arose not only because of non-payment by the population, although they also play a role. The main reason is the discrepancy between the current tariffs for water and the real costs of its supply. The tariffs set for the population are much lower than the actual cost, and there is no mechanism for compensating this difference on the part of the state.
The city budget also has no legal basis to cover these costs, and at the state level this issue has not yet been resolved. As a result, debts of water utilities throughout the country continue to grow rapidly, creating a “snowball” effect.
If the problem of at least debt restructuring is not resolved, these debts may be written off against Ukrinterenergo’s losses. Because of this, the energy company, which has also become a hostage of the situation, threatens to disconnect “Kharkivvodokanal” from the electricity supply in order to avoid significant financial losses.
