If you do not pay for electricity, gas and water for a long time: the lawyer tells about the consequences

The electricity, gas or water supplier may stop serving borrowers. This is a way to influence consumers who don’t pay their bills. However, there are some situations where such closure is almost impossible. In particular, such situations include: If the service is received through a condominium or manager, there is no direct agreement with the supplier. . Comments about this Focus said Ivan Topor, senior attorney at UCC De Jure LLC.

“Neither the condominium association nor the manager can disconnect you from the service if they are only its transit and not the main supplier. Simultaneously with the above general procedure on the interaction between the supplier and the consumer of public services, the provisions of the Cabinet also apply. No. 206 of the Ministers of Ukraine Decision “Some issues of payment for housing and communal services during martial law”, benefits are provided to a certain category of debtors even if they are not specified in the contract.” Focus expert.

So, according to the law, in case of damage to the consumer’s real estate as a result of hostilities, provided that the housing is located in territorial communities located in areas where hostilities are continuing or temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation, or the relevant public service provider provides it. In case of knowledge of such situations, the collection of fines, penalties, inflation expenses and annual interest accrued on debts is prohibited until the martial law ends.

In addition, no sanctions such as termination of public service provision can be applied to debtors in this category.

There are also situations where even debt collection is prohibited. However, this only applies to debts incurred during the period of hostilities in the territories included in the list of relevant territories after 24.02.2022 and provided that consumers and/or their family members leave their place of residence and provide the contractor with the following conditions: utilities, condominium or the necessary confirmation of departure from the manager.

Please note that information on the classification of the territories in which the property is located as occupied, on-going hostilities can be obtained on the website of the Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine.

How can you find out about your public service debt?

There are several ways to check whether a consumer is on the debtors list:

• contact the housing office or condominium association, providing the full name and address of the house;
• The Ukrposhta operator or an employee of the bank from which you pay utilities can check the existence of the debt;
• find out about the debt in the bank application (article “Benefit payments”);
• In the personal account of the service provider, if during registration you specify your full name, residential address, personal account and the final payment amount.

Important

The lawyer therefore recommends that debts to utilities be paid as soon as possible before suppliers impose sanctions. If this is not possible, you can apply for debt restructuring. In this case, repayment can be extended up to 60 months depending on the amount of the debt and the income status of the debtor.

As reported FocusPrices for utilities in Ukraine have increased significantly. For example, the cost of electricity increased by 69.7%, while the prices of other services remained unchanged.

Moreover, experts are increasingly saying that Ukrainians will face power outages and restrictions both in May and June and throughout the summer. Considering this fact, energy engineers call on Ukrainians to consume electricity economically to avoid unnecessary load on the network.