Another four regional gas companies owned by Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash have been found guilty of overcharging their customers since November, bringing the total number of culprits to seven.
The CEO of state oil and gas company Naftogaz, Andriy Kobolyev, said on Facebook on March 26 that Inkorgaz, Zakarpatgaz, Ivano-Frankivskgaz and Khargaz would join Vinnicagaz, Volyngaz and Kyivoblgaz in being fined Hr 850,000 ($31,500) for breaking pricing regulations.
Each of the companies will be forced to recalculate their prices for all household consumers.
The “oblgazes,” or regional gas supply companies, were found guilty of altering coefficients in their price formulas since October 2018 in order to swell gas supply volumes and overcharge private consumers.
An investigation into the regional gas supply companies was requested by the government at the end of December, and the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities, or NCSEP, launched the probe in early March.
The Kyiv Post contacted the regional gas companies but only Ivano-Frankivskgaz agreed to respond. Galyna Tsap, the spokeswoman of Ivano-Frankivskgaz, denied any wrongdoing by the regional gas networks. Tsap said the charges were “politically motivated” and not backed by evidence.
Galyna Tsap – spokeswoman of Ivano-Frankivskgaz – defended all accused gas companies and denied the charges that she qualified as being “politically motivated” and not backed by evidence.
Private consumers were overcharged by 1-1.5 percent in October 2018, and then the numbers jumped between 5-10 percent in December and January 2019, according to Naftogaz.
The commission first noticed the overcharging in November and ordered the local gas companies to alter their price formulas.
The local gas companies allegedly disregarded this new regulation and continued to illegally apply coefficients that increased over time, especially for residential consumers without gas meters.
Checks on gas supply companies will continue nationwide until mid-April.
Seventy percent of Ukraine’s regional gas distribution companies are owned by Firtash, who is in exile in Austria fighting extradition to the United States on corruption charges. He denies the charges made against him.
