The decision to retain prices of natural gas for households, municipal heat suppliers and industrial companies in 2010 at last year's level was taken by the government in connection with the fact that there are sufficient amounts of gas in underground storage facilities – over 14 billion cubic meters, acting Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov has said.
"Today, when the heating season is virtually over, we have over 14 billion cubic meters of gas in stock. It was this resource that allowed the government to take a decision to keep prices and rates for households, municipal services and industry unchanged," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Friday.
Turchynov said that Ukraine paid in full for Russian natural gas it received in February, having paid $615 million, despite the fact that the southern and southeastern regions "have almost halted payments for consumed gas and created an artificial situation in which Ukraine could have failed to pay for the gas."
He said the overall sum of debts in those regions has hit UAH 2.157 billion since the beginning of the year. In particular, consumers in Dnipropetrovsk region owe over UAH 441 million to Naftogaz, while Donetsk region owes UAH 504 million, Zaporizhia region UAH 166 million, Crimea UAH 104 million, Luhansk region UAH 197 million, Odesa region UAH 176 million, and Kharkiv region UAH 439 million. Moreover, consumers in southeastern regions have delayed payments for gas in 2009 worth an estimated UAH 1.8 billion.
