Олександр Кудим: «Energy Club – це гравітаційний центр енергетичного ринку»

Energy Club unites companies representing various segments of the energy market but sharing a common vision: a professional community is capable not only of creating business development opportunities but also of forming a joint industry position, influencing regulatory processes, and finding solutions to the most complex challenges.

The series of publications dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Energy Club continues with an interview with the Director of Euro Trade Energy LLC, Oleksandr Kudym.

The company is one of the flagships of the Ukrainian electricity supply market in implementing formula pricing, effectively implements projects for industrial consumers, and is one of the most active participants in Energy Club, regularly initiating professional meetings and sharp discussions on current issues of energy market development.

In the interview, Oleksandr Kudym explained why the company joined Energy Club, what practical value he sees in the professional community, how he evaluates the Club’s role in shaping industry dialogue, and why joint initiatives today are capable of transforming professional challenges into real changes.

– Mr. Oleksandr, how long has your company been a member of Energy Club, and why did you decide to join the Club at the time? – Our company joined Energy Club on March 22, 2024. It was a very conscious step. At the beginning of 2024, following the decision of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court regarding the application of the so-called “10% limit” in public procurement of electricity, we were among the first in the market to feel not only the legal complexity of this problem but also its potential systemic consequences for the entire industry.

It became obvious to us that this was no longer an issue of a single contract, a single supplier, or a single customer. It is a problem of legal certainty, supply stability, the economic logic of the market, and the security of public procurement of electricity and energy resources as a whole.

That is why we started looking not just for a communication platform, but for an environment where we could join forces with other market participants, form a common professional position, and systematically work on overcoming the consequences of the respective approaches of judicial bodies and prosecution authorities.

In this sense, Energy Club became a natural choice for us. We saw in the Club not a formal association, but a living professional community capable of hearing the market, amplifying participants’ initiatives, and translating individual company problems into the plane of joint industry action.

Therefore, our accession to Energy Club was dictated not only by the desire to be part of a strong energy community. First and foremost, it was a decision to join a team capable of fighting for legal certainty, fair rules of the game, and the civilized development of Ukraine’s energy market.

– What practical value does participation in Energy Club provide for your company? – If you look at the very etymology of the phrase “practical value,” it very well describes our experience of participating in Energy Club.

The word “practice” comes from the Greek praktikós – active, doing. That is, practice is not contemplation, but action. Meanwhile, “value” is the property of a certain phenomenon to satisfy the needs, interests, or expectations of a social subject. And it is precisely in this sense that Energy Club has very concrete practical value for our company: it transforms professional presence into action, and action into results.

For us, participating in the Club is, undoubtedly, about professional networking, access to industry information, new contacts, participation in discussions, and greater company visibility in the market. But the most important thing is the opportunity to be part of the joint position of the market, when a problem of one company ceases to be a private challenge and becomes a subject of professional attention for the entire community.

Separately, it is worth noting the activity, bright spark, and managerial energy of the Energy Club leadership. Thanks to this, the Club does not look like a formal membership-based association but works as a living professional team. And here an analogy with team sports is very appropriate: each participant has their own role, their own experience, and their own interest, but true strength emerges when the team unites around a common game for “trophies.”

In our case, such “trophies” are not cups or medals, but things that are much more important for the market: overcoming legal uncertainty, resolving legislative problems, eliminating judicial disproportions, shaping clear rules of the game, and protecting the normal functioning of the energy market.

Therefore, the practical value of Energy Club for our company lies in the fact that we are not simply present in the professional environment. We are part of a team that is able to act, amplify each other’s initiatives, and fight together for decisions that are important not only for individual participants but also for the entire energy market of Ukraine.

– Which Energy Club formats are most useful to you: forums, closed meetings, online discussions, working groups, interviews, analytics? Why these specifically? – For us, the most useful format of Energy Club is precisely forums and meetings.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, and then after the start of the full-scale invasion, a tangible deficit of live social connections formed in the professional environment. A lot of communication moved online, some contacts became situational, and the market, in a sense, lost a regular space for live professional exchange.

It is the Energy Club forums and meetings that fill this deficit very qualitatively. Their value is not only in topics, speakers, or analytics, although this is also important. The main value lies in the energy of live communication, professional discussion, and the shared whirlpool of ideas, when different market participants, different positions, and different experiences meet in one space, but with one common interest in the development of Ukrainian energy.

For our company, Energy Club forums and meetings are the format where the pulse of the market is felt best. It is there that you can not only hear about urgent problems but also see how a common understanding, professional trust, and new initiatives form around them. Often, the most important things are born not only on stage but also in sideline conversations, brief exchanges of thoughts, introductions, and discussions after the panels.

Therefore, for us, forums and meetings are not just events. It is a way of restoring and strengthening the professional fabric of the market, which is especially important in conditions of war, turbulence, and constant regulatory changes.

– How, in your opinion, has the role of Energy Club for the Ukrainian energy market changed over these 10 years? – I will be frank: our company has been a part of Energy Club for the last two years, so I do not claim to evaluate the entire ten-year transformation of the Club from the inside. But it is specifically during these two years that I very clearly felt the change in its role for the market. For us, Energy Club has become not just a professional platform where events, discussions, or meetings take place. It has become a space in which the energy market begins to speak the same language with itself.

When our company joined Energy Club, it felt like a person who, after a long journey, comes home: you enter an environment where you do not need to explain basic things, where people understand your challenges, speak with you in the same professional coordinate system, and are ready not only to listen but also to amplify your initiatives.

In my opinion, over the recent years, the role of Energy Club for the Ukrainian energy market has become significantly deeper. It is no longer just a place for communication. It is an environment of trust, expertise, and joint action, where individual positions of companies can transform into a common voice of the market, and individual initiatives – into a real impulse for changes in the industry.

That is why for our company, Energy Club is the professional home of the energy market. A place where the market not only meets but gradually learns to act as a community.

– Which event, discussion, or initiative of Energy Club has your team remembered the most? – Our team especially remembered the work related to the participation of Energy Club representatives in the meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on July 1, 2026.

For us, this was not just a separate event, but the result of long-term, painstaking, and very deep professional work. During the preparation for the meeting, we managed to comprehensively immerse the members of the Council in one of the most painful problems for the energy market – the legal uncertainty around the so-called “10% limit” and the application of formula pricing in public electricity procurement.

The value of this initiative was that the discussion did not remain at the level of general theses. During the preparation, concrete draft decisions were developed, in particular, the draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “Some issues of applying formula pricing in public procurement of electricity and other goods, the price of which is formed on organized markets, exchanges or is determined on the basis of official indicators,” as well as the draft structure of the corresponding Procedure for applying formula pricing.

Separately, draft Methodological Recommendations were prepared regarding the assessment of materials related to price changes in public contracts for the supply of electricity and other goods, the price of which is formed on organized markets, exchanges, or is determined on the basis of official indicators.

Based on the results of the NSDC of Ukraine meeting, draft instructions were also prepared to ensure legal certainty, energy, and economic stability in the field of public electricity procurement.

This initiative is very indicative for us, because it demonstrates the true power of Energy Club: the ability to turn the professional pain of the market into an object of state attention, and expert discussion into specific managerial and regulatory decisions.

I would also like to separately thank Energy Club President Andriy Kostrytsia and Vice President Ivan Hryhoruk for the political capital, trust, and organizational capacity that made such a level of dialogue between the market and the state possible. For our team, it was one of those events after which you feel: a professional association can not only talk about changes but really create the space for them.

– What would you wish for Energy Club for the next 10 years? – To become for the Ukrainian energy market what the strongest industry associations have become for Europe: not just a meeting platform, but a place where individual problems of companies or the industry as a whole turn into a joint, thorough, and professional position of the market, a joint position – into rules, standards, and legislative changes, and the professional energy of each active participant – into a real impulse for the development of the entire industry.

– In one sentence: Energy Club for your company is… – Energy Club for our company is the gravitational center of the energy market: its main force unites a professional array of knowledge and skills, holds participants in a common orbit, and creates that gravitational impact without which the industry’s movement toward a common European future is impossible.

10 years of Energy Club is, first and foremost, a story of people and companies who are not afraid to take responsibility, initiate changes, and unite for the development of the Ukrainian energy sector. It is precisely such participants who fill the Club with substance, turning it into a space of trust, professional dialogue, and joint decisions. The history of Euro Trade Energy LLC is another confirmation that the true value of a professional community lies not only in the exchange of experience but also in the ability to jointly influence the future of the industry.