14.02.2025
Household customers in the Volyn region owe more than 76 million hryvnias for electricity consumed back in 2024. As of the end of January 2025, more than 93,000 households have debt.
The methods of debt repayment, how to get information about the account status, and other topical issues of concern to consumers were discussed by the director of Volynenergozbut LLC Oksana Gentish with journalist Olga Sharuta in the program “Topic of the Day” of “Ukrainian Radio Lutsk”.
What is the situation today, is there a certain period when you can see that debts for consumed electricity have started to increase?
In 2024, Volynenergozbut LLC, which is part of the Tolk Group, supplied its customers with more than a billion kilowatt hours of electricity. When we say that we are the largest supplier in the Volyn region, this definition is vividly confirmed by numbers. These are billion-dollar volumes of electricity that we supply to customers every year. Behind these colossal figures is the work of hundreds of our employees, as well as all the energy workers who carried out the generation, transmission and distribution of this electricity. At the same time, we, as a supplier, are forced to state that indeed the people of Volyn owe more than 76 million hryvnias as of the beginning of 2025, and this is almost a third more than last year’s debt.
More than 93,000 homes had debts for electricity consumed in the Volyn region out of 400,000 households that use electricity. A sharp increase in the number of debtors and the amount of debt occurred last fall, when in the Privat24 application, as well as in the cash desks and terminals of PrivatBank – unlike other financial institutions – the current amount to be paid for electricity consumed stopped being displayed.
In this, the bank tried to blame us as a supplier, despite the fact that all other banks and payment systems, except PrivatBank, process the information and the amount to be paid provided by us and display them to their customers. Therefore, the thesis that is broadcast by the bank on their “hotline” that we allegedly do not provide the necessary information does not stand up to any criticism: we provide this information to the bank. And we strive to ensure that all Ukrainian banks without exception display the current amount of charges for consumed resources, so that electricity consumers have a choice from a large number of convenient services of various financial institutions.
What steps has Volynenergozbut LLC taken to solve the problems that arise for consumers?
We are constantly informing our customers about the amounts to be paid. Last fall, in addition to the official traditional services that we provide – generating an invoice in the Consumer’s Personal Account, and a paper invoice – we also launched Viber notifications about the amount to be paid and the availability of debt. In any situation, especially now, in difficult wartime, we strive to find solutions that make our customers’ lives more convenient.
The distribution of notifications via Viber started as an experiment and as a way to resolve the situation with PrivatBank. This experiment received positive feedback. Customers highly appreciate the convenience and simplicity of this service and have proposed to make it permanent. Thanks to this service, consumers can quickly pay their bills on time without unnecessary hassle, and more than 80,000 household customers have subscribed to such a distribution.
If customers do not receive such a distribution, how to find it? And do you plan to have such a distribution in other messengers?
To start receiving notifications in Viber, it is enough to fill out a short questionnaire form on our website. We have specifically placed it in a “pop-up window” on the main page of the website, so that customers have quick access to it.
You can also call the call center (0-800) 300-521 during working hours and inform them of your desire to subscribe to notifications in Viber.
You can visit our customer service centers or representative offices and make such a subscription on the spot. To do this, you need: the number of the consumer’s personal account (9 digits), the address to which the client wants to receive messages (he can specify 2-3 consumer addresses, for example, his parents, for whom he also wants to receive information) and the phone number on which Viber is installed.
Still, we have a fact – 76 million hryvnias of debts. And this means that some consumers may want to pay off these debts sooner. What available methods of debt repayment are there now?
Now we are constantly publishing information on our Facebook page about how to pay easily and without commission. First of all, this is the Consumer’s Personal Account. By registering in the Personal Account, a person can see – what amount of electricity he consumed, at what price – and the amount to be paid. Immediately, in the Personal Account, the consumer can make a payment without commission.
You can also pay in any financial institution. We exchange information with all financial institutions in the city of Lutsk and the region. This information is available in every service.
In the Viber messages that we send, in addition to the amount to be paid, there is a link to a free service where you can pay.
And yet, separately about debtors. Is it possible to conclude restructuring agreements? What amount is already considered a debt?
If we talk about a restructuring agreement, there are no restrictions on the amount. All that we ask from the client is a certificate of his family composition and income.
We look at the income of each adult family member, what is the ability of a person to pay off this debt. Depending on the income, what are the possibilities to pay off, we conclude a debt restructuring agreement.
According to the Rules for the Use of Electrical Energy, payment for consumed electrical energy must be made before the 20th of the month following the billing month. If this payment is not made before the 20th, it is considered overdue.
And accordingly, after this period, we, as a supplier, have the right to send a warning about disconnection and apply disconnections.
Only disconnection or is a penalty charged?
A penalty is not charged.
Another important question for consumers: can the presence of debt in neighbors affect other consumers along the line, because usually consumers, especially in multi-story buildings, are connected?
Each consumer, in particular a household consumer, each house, is connected to the network. There is no such thing that one client has a debt, and everyone is disconnected. This is not how it works.
But, we, as electricity consumers, must remember that now we are all in the same boat, because the general energy system is one for all of us. And the state it is in, how much it is provided with funds, how much the energy system has the ability to recover after shelling, how stably it works – it all depends on us, on each consumer.
If we do not pay for the electricity consumed in time, there will be no funds for energy workers to purchase consumables, for the production of electricity, for its transmission, for its distribution, for repairs after damage.
Consumers are always worried about whether tariffs will increase this year?
Tariffs for the population are approved by the Government. As of today, a single tariff of 4 hryvnias 32 kopecks per kilowatt hour for household consumers has been approved, and it is valid until April 30, 2025 inclusive. What the price will be from May 1, 2025, there is no information yet.
Do differentiated tariffs apply, are day and night tariffs possible, who can claim them?
Differentiated tariffs apply to all household consumers who have installed zonal metering, which can account for electricity by time of day zones. It can be 2-zone or 3-zone, depending on the programming and the client’s wishes, according to which zoning to calculate.
We also have a differentiation for privileged categories of consumption. These are tariffs for electrical energy for consumers who use it for electric heating. That is, if consumers have electric heating in the established order, they have from February 1 a preferential tariff of 2.64 UAH per kWh for a volume of 2000 kWh per month, regardless of total consumption.
Also, we have houses in the region that are not provided with centralized heating and hot water supply, and gas supply systems do not function there. Accordingly, these houses also have the right – if local self-government bodies give such a conclusion – to use electricity in the winter period at a price of 2 hryvnias 64 kopecks per kilowatt hour.
Moreover, a household consumer who has a two-zone meter, provided that he has a registered electric heating installation, will have the right to a tariff of 1.32 UAH in the period from 23:00 to 7:00 within the total (day and night) consumption of the first 2000 kWh per month during the heating season.
