Ukrainians won’t pay more for central heating or hot water this heating season, according to a government memorandum announced on Sept. 30.
The Ukrainian government, representatives of the Congress of Municipal and Regional authorities and state-owned gas company Naftogaz signed the memorandum amid Europe-wide worries of gas shortages and soaring prices.
The memorandum is similar to one signed in February 2021 which ruled out price increases during the last heating season.
The price spike occurred after Russia significantly cut the amount of gas it was sending through the Yamal pipeline, one branch of which runs through Ukraine.
Supply dropped from 80 million cubic meters a day to 20 million in mid-August, causing European gas storage facilities to pump out stored gas rather than saving more for winter, as is usual for August and September.
Russia’s state-owned gas export monopoly Gazprom dropped supply through existing pipes ahead of the imminent launch of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will supply up to 55 billion cubic meters of gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine, after its expected launch date on Oct. 1, 2021.
On Sept. 28, Naftogaz subsidiary UkrTransGaz announced that Ukraine had 18.7 billion cubic metres of gas in its underground storage facilities, 1.7 billion more than the minimum level required for the heating season.
