19.09.2025
Olga Babii—an expert in energy resource management, a member of the NEURC (National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission) from 2019-2024, an advisor to the Head of the National Security and Defense Council, a former advisor to the Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, and the author and host of the program “Energy Truth with Olga Babii” on the KSPU Media YouTube channel as part of the Energy Club’s training course “Communications and Interaction in Energy: Strategies for PR, Marketing, GR and Lobbying in Ukraine”—shared valuable insights and exclusive information about the regulatory environment of Ukraine’s energy markets.
During the lecture, Olga Babii, drawing on her own experience at the NEURC, explained in detail to the audience the legislative levels at which key issues in the energy sector are regulated. She presented an overview of the main legal acts, particularly the Law of Ukraine “On the Electricity Market” and the Law of Ukraine “On the Natural Gas Market,” which are the foundation for the functioning of competitive markets and the protection of consumer interests. The course participants learned about the distribution of powers in the energy markets among government bodies such as the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament), the Cabinet of Ministers, and the Ministry of Energy, as well as the regulator (NEURC) and network operators (NPC “Ukrenergo” and LLC “Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine”).
“The course from Energy Club is extremely relevant,” Olga Babii shared her impressions of the educational project. “The participants learned a lot about the specifics of multi-level legislative regulation, as energy market participants often do not understand at which legislative level a particular norm is regulated.”
The audience actively engaged with the material, and the questions were not only on the topic but also related to her previous professional activities. It was an interesting and friendly atmosphere.
My impressions of the educational project are very positive. Sometimes we think we know everything and can do everything, but such programs serve as a kind of reminder, a way to refresh knowledge, and to broaden one’s horizons regarding the application of certain norms and the strengthening of lobbying rules.
– Ms. Babii, having experience working at the NEURC, what is the most common communication mistake that energy companies make in their dialogue with the regulator, and how can the knowledge gained from the course help them avoid it and build a more constructive interaction?
– During the course, we talked about the fact that the most common communication mistake by market participants in their dialogue with the regulator is the process of appeal itself and the process of reacting to the adoption of certain decisions. Often, market participants send emotional letters to the regulator, pointing out possible consequences. But none of the appeals are supported by justification, analytics, or modeling that could demonstrate the reality of the consequences that the adoption of certain norms would lead to. Accordingly, we discussed this in detail during the training course, and the participants understood how to constructively and thoughtfully appeal and defend the proposals they offer to the regulator during the discussion of legal acts.
– Your lecture was dedicated to the complex regulatory environment. Why is it critically important today for the head of an energy company, and not just for a lawyer or a GR specialist, to understand the logic of regulators’ actions, and how does this course help integrate this understanding into the overall business strategy?
– In general, the NEURC has a key regulatory role in the energy markets, and the regulator often adopts norms that can affect the activities of energy companies. Therefore, it is not only the head who should understand the procedures, regulations, and decision-making process, and not only the GR specialist needs to know this, but also the legal and commercial departments, which must monitor the regulator’s decisions and apply them in their daily activities. After all, the regulator can change the rules for collateral, guarantees, and conduct in certain market segments with its short or long resolutions. Therefore, a business strategy is a very good thing, but it is often necessary to monitor the current regulatory environment, which can significantly affect operations.
– You spoke about the influence of EU directives. Could you give an example of how a European directive not only changed the “rules of the game” in Ukraine but also forced companies to completely rethink their communication with consumers, authorities, and other stakeholders?
– During the course, we discussed the specifics of implementing EU directives into national legislation. We talked about the fact that in the future, Ukraine, which is currently a candidate, will become a member of the European Union and will apply European directives and norms. It is this mechanism of how to clearly read directives and build rules that our EU partner countries are already guided by that will allow us to prepare now for the requirements that will be set by the European energy markets. For example, we talked about REMIT (Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency). On the one hand, this is a complex story that requires data collection and modeling. But in the long term, for many companies that implement these rules, it is an opportunity to become a reliable supplier or a reliable participant in European energy markets and to be ready to comply with procedures within the framework of integrated markets.
– What is the main practical insight about how the “kitchen” of regulatory bodies works that you hope the participants took away from your lecture, so that their interaction with the state becomes more effective and predictable?
– I think the participants came to one important conclusion: there is a regulatory procedure, and at each of its stages—preliminary publication, approval, and discussion—there are many different “life hacks” on how to eliminate a certain norm or make it better, to understand it, and in what way to correctly submit remarks, objections, and proposals so that the rules and legal acts adopted by the regulator are understandable and accessible to participants.
