The Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Energy and Housing and Utilities proposes to impose a moratorium on the collection of funds from the State Enterprise "Guaranteed Buyer" regarding enforcement proceedings in cases involving claims from producers of green electricity.
The committee decided to introduce the relevant amendment to draft law No. 11301-d concerning the distribution of funds from the current account with a special usage regime during a meeting held on Thursday, which was broadcast online, reports a correspondent from "Energy Reforms".
"We are doing everything possible to settle old debts; this draft law (No. 11301-d) is about not increasing and reducing debts (…). If someone goes to court and withdraws funds, those are the funds of 'GarPok', intended for all green producers. Consequently, this will lead to even more debts. Larger companies understand the situation and are not heading to court for now; it's the smaller ones that are. The withdrawal of funds based on their claims has not caused any major issues. However, if someone from the medium or large category goes to court and withdraws a substantial amount through enforcement proceedings, payments could stop entirely for all participants," explained the head of the energy committee, Andriy Gerus.
This amendment was also supported by the national energy regulator NKREKU and "GarPok".
"In such difficult times, we must support all producers under the green tariff and ensure that payments are made proportionally. This amendment is necessary for the entire industry. In the case of lawsuits, this (enforcement proceedings – ER) will negatively impact the implementation of the PSO for the population: if funds are seized, it will affect everyone," noted Stanislav Sova, Deputy Director of "GarPok".
At the same time, the director of the State Executive Service of the Ministry of Justice, Maksym Kiselev, emphasized that establishing a moratorium on the collection of funds from "GarPok" expands the list of enterprises for which court decisions cannot be enforced.
"This undermines the investment climate and creates corruption risks in the debtor's operations. Large foreign investments in Ukraine will be questioned," Kiselev stated.
During the discussion, the head of the energy committee pointed out that "GarPok" is guided by regulations that require it to make proportional payments to counterparties, which mitigates corruption risks.
For his part, he proposed that the committee appeal to the government to develop a draft law on debt offsetting in the energy market and highlighted the need to create a working group to address debt issues, which would include representatives from all political forces. This initiative was also supported by the committee.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the first reading draft law No. 11301-d concerning the application of an algorithm for distributing funds from the current account with a special usage regime authored by Gerus and several deputies on August 21, 2024.
As Gerus explained, current accounts with a special usage regime imply, among other things, introducing them for debtors in the balancing electricity market.
"Those who do not pay for electricity will be disconnected or will remain under the service of the last resort supplier (LRS), but with the opening of a special account. All funds from business activities will be transferred to it, and a part of these will be deducted for electricity," he said.
According to Gerus, the introduction of this algorithm will lead to a significant reduction in debtors in the electricity balancing market.
As reported in an interview with "Energy Reforms," the acting chairman of the board of NEC "Ukrenergo," Oleksiy Brecht, stated that as of early October, NEC's debts in the balancing market (BM) amounted to over 16 billion UAH, while the debts of balancing market participants to it exceeded 34 billion UAH.
According to "GarPok" data as of October 1, debts to renewable energy generation amounted to 30 billion UAH.