On October 22, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) fined two water utilities for a total of UAH 11 million for abuse of monopoly position.
This is announced in the AMCU's statement, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
It is noted that the Temporary Administrative Boards of the AMCU at their meetings on October 22 recognized the actions of the two water utilities as violations stipulated by Clause 1 of Part Two of Article 13 and Clause 2 of Article 50 of the Law "On Protection of Economic Competition", imposed fines on the enterprises for a total amount of over UAH 11 million and obliged them to stop the violations.
The committee does not name which water utilities were fined.
The grounds for opening the cases were consumer statements about violations of the legislation on protection of economic competition.
During the consideration of case No. 1, it was established that from January 1, 2024, the enterprise established an unjustified amount of the fee for subscriber services for consumers of centralized water supply and centralized water disposal services, which includes the costs of verifying water metering distribution devices, which is not provided for by the current legislation of Ukraine, and also established the same amount of the fee for subscriber services for consumers of centralized water supply and centralized water disposal services.
By occupying a monopoly position, the enterprise violated the legislation on the protection of economic competition.
Such actions of its lead to infringement of the interests of consumers (individuals and legal entities), since the latter bear additional financial costs that are unlawfully included in the calculation of the fee for subscriber services.
During the consideration of case No. 2, it was established that until June 1, 2024, the enterprise charged consumers at facilities related to the housing stock a fee for centralized water supply and centralized water disposal services at the tariffs established for the population, and from June 1, 2024, it began to charge without taking into account the categories of these facilities.
The temporary administrative boards recognized that the water utilities violated the legislation on the protection of economic competition in the form of abuse of a monopoly position in the regional markets for centralized water supply and centralized water disposal services.
The enterprises are obliged to cease violating the legislation on the protection of economic competition within the period specified in the decisions taken.
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