For many years, thousands of residents of Odesa have been forced to pay three times more for electricity, without being able to get any reaction to what is happening from the city authorities and the energy supply company. This is a city-wide problem that affects dozens of new buildings in Odesa, whose residents, due to the position of the energy monopolist company DTEK Odessa Electric Grids, pay for electricity not at a household rate, but at an industrial rate: the same rate at which DTEK supplies electricity to the construction site. Even if the building was commissioned three, five, seven years ago, the monopolist continues to consider it a construction site.
In particular, residents of the "Manhattan" residential complex, located in the Kyiv district of Odesa, told ElitExpert that their building was occupied and put into operation several years ago. Accordingly, the tariff for electricity should be domestic, as for ordinary residential buildings - now, after the latest increases, it is 2,64 hryvnias/kWh. However, until February 24, 2022, residents were forced to pay the industrial tariff, which is about 8 hryvnias/kWh.
And although during the martial law, by government decree, the residents of this and other new buildings who fell into the same trap were automatically transferred to the household tariff - this benefit will be valid for them only until the end of the war. At the same time, elevators, lighting and all other equipment in the building continue to be paid for at a commercial rate of eight hryvnias/kWh.
Residents still do not have direct contracts with DTEK, they are forced to pay for electricity from the managing company. According to them, the developer is trying to coordinate the documents for the substation equipment, but is facing stiff resistance from DPEK and coordinating bodies.
Even when residents, unwilling to put up with such a situation, set their meters (both for household needs and for general use) and pay for them, DTEK does not take them into account and does not seal them.
The situation looks all the more absurd because all these houses without problems conclude direct contracts with other Odessa monopolists, including "Odesagaz", "Infoksvodokanal", KP "Teplosatsana" and obstacles arise only in the case of DTEK.
The next layer of problems is lack of a normal format of relations between the condominium and the energy supply company. Residents flood the courts with lawsuits, constantly appeal to DTEK with a request to conclude an individual contract with each consumer or transfer their condominium to a regular citizen tariff, but the company receives formal letters of resignation, and the issue is never resolved.
Still on the 2021 press conference of the heads of condominiums from different districts of the city provided answers to the energy company to numerous appeals from citizens, written as if they were a carbon copy - DTEK referred to the fact that the developers allegedly did not meet some technical conditions, and more - no arguments.
Similarly, ElitExpert in DPEK commented on the situation with the "Manhattan" residential complex:
JK "Manhattan" is connected to the networks of JSC "DTEK ODESKI ELEKTROMEREZHI" according to a temporary scheme. To date, the permanent power supply scheme of the "Manhattan" housing complex has not been implemented due to the failure of the developer to meet the technical conditions that allow the building to revive as a residential complex and increase its capacity. Therefore, the operator of the distribution system cannot guarantee the quality and reliability of the electricity supply to this building," says the company's response.
As a result, Odesa residents continue to suffer from clearly unjustified and illogical electricity tariffs due to the policy of "DTEK Odesa Electric Grid". At the same time, neither the government nor the regulatory bodies seem to be able or willing to influence the situation, leaving people face to face with their problem.
Perhaps, only a wide public response and attention from experts and human rights organizations will be able to force the monopolist to solve this problem.
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