12.11.2025
Energy Club, together with 19 of its member companies, has sent an official appeal to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Ruslan Kravchenko. The letter expresses deep concern over the actions of the prosecutor’s office, which is massively filing lawsuits and initiating criminal proceedings against electricity suppliers. According to Energy Club, this practice destabilizes the energy market, ignores special wartime legislation and objective economic realities, creating a direct threat to the country’s energy security.
Currently, structural divisions of the prosecutor’s office are actively filing lawsuits in the interests of municipal and state-owned enterprises. The main claim is that suppliers, by concluding additional agreements to change the price of electricity, are allegedly violating the Law of Ukraine “On Public Procurement.” The prosecutor’s office refers to a norm that limits the change in the price per unit of goods to 10% in the event of market price fluctuations. On this basis, the agency initiates the return of funds to the state budget and even launches criminal proceedings against the heads of supplying companies and consumers.
Energy Club and the signatories of the letter insist that this position is one-sided and legally incorrect, as the regulatory authorities fail to consider the specifics of the electricity market’s operation under martial law.
- Special Wartime Legislation: A key argument is that the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1178 dated October 12, 2022, specifically regulates public procurement during martial law. This resolution was adopted for the market’s survival and directly removed the 10% limit on increasing the price per unit of electrical energy. Suppliers, when adjusting prices, acted within the bounds of this legal act.
- Objective Market Factors and Force Majeure: The prosecutor’s office’s position ignores the fact that the price of electricity is a dynamic indicator. In conditions of war, constant shelling, and infrastructure destruction, it is impossible to predict the price. The letter provides specific data from the “Market Operator” JSC:
- After the massive missile attack on October 10, 2025, the price on the “day-ahead” market (DAM) jumped by 16.7% in just one day (from UAH 5,930.21/MWh to UAH 6,920.16/MWh).
- The increase in the weighted average price for the period from September to October 2025 (as of 17.10) was 43.50%. These are not ordinary fluctuations but force majeure circumstances caused by military aggression.
- Uncontrollable Price Components: Suppliers cannot influence the major part of the final price for the consumer, as it includes:
- Purchase price from the producer: The cost of electricity from NNEGC “Energoatom” on the Ukrainian Energy Exchange (UEB) shows colossal volatility. For example, in June 2024, the monthly price increase was +62%, and the annual increase in 2024 reached 36.22%.
- Transmission and distribution tariffs: These tariffs are set by the state regulator (NEURC) and are constantly increasing. The transmission tariff in 2025 increased by almost 30%, and the average increase in distribution tariffs in 2023 was 36.7%.
- Imbalances: Due to emergency shutdowns after shelling, huge imbalances arise. Suppliers incur systemic losses, being forced to sell surpluses (positive imbalance) to “Ukrenergo” at low prices and buy deficits (negative imbalance) at high prices.
- Contradictory Practice of the Prosecutor’s Office Itself: The most telling argument is that the prosecutor’s offices themselves, acting as customers (consumers) of electricity, also concluded additional agreements with price increases significantly exceeding 10%, guided by the same CMU Resolution No. 1178. An analysis of the Prozorro system, cited in the letter, shows:
- Zakarpattia Regional Prosecutor’s Office: price increase +73.66%
- Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office: price increase +54.42%
- Rivne Regional Prosecutor’s Office: price increase +54.65%
- Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office: price increase +40.56%
- Zhytomyr Regional Prosecutor’s Office: price increase +37.24%
- This situation demonstrates “selective application of the law” and the absence of a unified legal position.
The actions of the prosecutor’s office create a legal conflict: on the one hand, they, as customers, recognize the necessity of price increases, and on the other hand, they prosecute suppliers for it.
This policy leads to inevitable consequences:
- Suppliers will be forced to refuse participation in state tenders to avoid criminal prosecution and losses.
- Municipal enterprises, hospitals, schools, and strategic facilities will be massively transferred to the “Supplier of Last Resort” (SoLR), which will lead to billions in losses for the state budget.
- A systemic energy crisis will arise, which, due to integration with ENTSO-E, will inevitably lead to an imbalance in the EU’s energy system as well.
Given the critical social and economic significance of the issue, Energy Club requests that Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko organize an official coordination meeting.
It is proposed to invite representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office, NEURC, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Ministry of Energy, PJSC “NEC “Ukrenergo,” JSC “NNEGC “Energoatom,” and representatives of electricity suppliers to the meeting.
The goal is to develop a coordinated and balanced legal approach to ensure the stable functioning of the electricity market under martial law and to prevent losses to the state.
