Naftogaz Becomes Monopolist In Market Of Gas Supplies To Population

The Naftogaz of Ukraine Gas Supply Company LLC has taken a monopoly position in the market of natural gas supply to household consumers, concentrating 93% of the market.

This is evidenced by the calculations of the editorial office of the Ukrainian News Agency.

"Since June 1, 2022, 8.8 million Ukrainian households have found themselves in a situation where their suppliers cannot perform their function. Therefore, now they will receive gas from the supplier of last resort (SLR), whose function is performed by the Naftogaz of Ukraine Gas Supply Company LLC. This information is relevant for customers who have recently received gas from local gas supply companies in Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Rivne, Sumy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi and Chernihiv regions," says the statement of the Naftogaz of Ukraine Gas Supply Company LLC.

In May, the Naftogaz of Ukraine Gas Supply Company LLC reported that 2.2 million Ukrainian households are its customers in the gas market for household consumers.

At the same time, taking into account the supply of gas within the framework of the SLR, the company will supply gas to 11 million households.

According to the State Statistics Service, in 2021 there were 11.8 million domestic gas consumers (households) in Ukraine. Thus, the company's market share increased from 18% to 93%.

According to the editorial office, only two large companies - gas suppliers were able to retain their customers. The rest had to leave the market, since the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine prescribed unrealistic conditions for the purchase of gas for delivery to the population through the PSO mechanism (imposing special obligations to supply gas to the population at a reduced price).

Naftogaz does not know what the gas tariff will be for 8 million Ukrainians who have been receiving gas from it since June 1 as a supplier of last resort. The company expects the price to be UAH 8 per 1 cubic meter of gas.

Since the beginning of the war, the level of payment for gas amounted to 55%.

Naftogaz plans to increase gas prices for thermal utilities by more than 3 times to UAH 29.4 per cubic meter (including VAT, taking into account the tariff for transportation services and the coefficient that is applied when ordering capacity for the day ahead).

For June and July, tariffs for thermal utilities remained the same - UAH 7.4 per 1 cubic meter of gas. In summer, the enterprises produce only hot water. Therefore, the increase will start working when the power engineers start heating in the autumn with the beginning of the heating season.