The Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on Energy and Housing Utilities has proposed to allocate the excess funds of NEC "Ukrenergo" from dispatching in 2023-2024 to settle debts in the balancing market (BM), owed to industrial renewable energy generation and household solar power plants.
The committee voted in favor of the amendment to bill No. 9381, which addresses changes in energy and heating supply laws (accepted in the first reading on December 5, 2024), introduced by the head of the energy committee, Andriy Gerus, during its meeting on Monday, which was streamed online, reports the correspondent of "Energy Reforms".
According to this proposal, the amount of excess income generated by "Ukrenergo" from dispatch management in 2023-2024 will be allocated by the company as follows: 45% for settling NEC debts in the BM, 45% for settling debts to the State Enterprise "Guaranteed Buyer" for payments to industrial renewable energy facilities, and the remaining 10% for settling debts to universal service suppliers (USPs) for payments to household solar power plants.
As discussed in the committee's amendment, this concerns an amount of approximately 10 billion UAH. Earlier, amendments to other bills suggested dividing it 50/50 between debts in the BM and those to industrial renewable energy generation, but such decisions have not yet been made.
According to the deputy head of the energy committee, Andriy Zhupanin, there has been a noticeable increase in unpaid debts to household solar power plants, which has reached nearly 3 billion UAH since September 2024.
"Since September 2024, when I first raised this topic at a committee meeting, the debt to household solar power plants, according to 'Ukrenergo', was 2.2 billion UAH, and as of today, it has grown to almost 3 billion UAH... If we divide 10 billion UAH (the savings of NEC from dispatching – ER), it would result in 1 billion UAH for household solar power plants. That's not bad," Zhupanin commented, adding that given the growth of debts, more funds should be allocated for household solar power plants.
Previously, "Ukrenergo" acknowledged the existence of debts to USPs for settlements with household solar power plants in response to a request from "Energy Reforms," though it did not specify their amount.
The primary cause of the debts was identified as the lack of funds in the tariff for transmission set by the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities (NERC), which is the main source for covering the costs of compensating for electricity for household solar power plants, as well as significant debts of USPs to "Ukrenergo" for electricity transmission services.
According to information provided by NEC on December 16, the transmission tariff for electricity in 2024 includes expenses for household solar power plants at the level of 4.7 billion UAH (hereinafter including VAT), which is insufficient to cover annual needs and makes timely and complete settlements with USPs impossible.
"Currently, 'Ukrenergo' has used almost all the funds that were allocated in the tariff for 2024. In 2024, payments to USPs for the service (for household solar power plants – ER) amounted to 6.8 billion UAH, of which 4.6 billion UAH was for the settlement periods of 2024. Additionally, 126.6 million UAH was paid from the revenues of capacity distribution. The level of settlements for services provided over the 10 months of 2024 is 61.6%," the situation was described by "Ukrenergo".
At the same time, it noted that the debts of most USPs to the company for electricity transmission significantly exceed its debts to suppliers for payments to household solar power plants.
"Ukrenergo" also pointed out that according to electricity market legislation, the funds received by USPs from NEC under contracts for payments to household solar power plants are not the only source for paying the costs of private households.
"USPs also have income from licensed activities related to supplying electricity to consumers within the framework of providing universal services," stated "Ukrenergo".