Ukrainians Who Receive Energy Subsidies ‘Consume More Gas’
Ukrainians who receive energy subsidies consume more gas rather than try to save it, Zhytomyrska Khvylia [ed.: the text of this hyperlink is in the Ukrainian language] cites Olena Michurina, press-officer of Zhytomyr Gas Company.
"Approximately 40% subsidy recipients in the oblast consume more gas to make sure the government doesn’t reduce their subsidy," the expert noted, "While the majority of recipients stopped paying gas bills."
She believes that the new procedure of subsidy allocation approved by the Ministry of Social Policy jeopardizes consumers’ motivation to save gas, because it is based on a false needs assessment of how much gas Ukrainian households consume.
"As a result of a technical mistake, the authorities provide subsidies that are twice as high as actual needs. For example, during the 2015-2016 heating season, ₴1.7 billion ($68 million) had to be reimbursed to gas consumers in Zhytomyr oblast," she stressed.
According to the Ministry of Finance, social security authorities provided subsidies to gas consumers of ₴18.1 billion ($724 million) more than the actual cost of the consumed fuel, which means that subsidy recipients received 41% more funds than they had to pay as their gas bills.
Experts believe that targeted monetary aid could be an efficient solution to this problem.
Source: Ekonomichna Pravda
