The debt has exceeded Hr 927 million with a 19% level of payment. The debt of municipal heat supplying companies to Gaz Ukrainy for gas consumed since the start of the new heating season (from Oct. 1, 2009) has exceeded Hr 927 million with a 19% level of payment, the company's press service reported on Nov. 23.

Heat suppliers' debts for gas consumed in the previous heating season exceeded Hr 2.3 billion with a 74% level of payment.

The press service said that heat suppliers in Chernivtsi, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Lviv and Ternopil regions and Sevastopol city increased payments for gas, while the state of debts of companies from Kirovohrad, Zakarpattia, Rivne and Dnipropetrovsk regions remains rather unsatisfactory.

Gaz Ukrainy said that the large number of heat suppliers did not make use of a chance to cut their debts for gas through the registration of protocols according to cabinet resolution No. 193 of Mar. 5, 209, which sets the procedure for compensation for the difference in the tariffs from the national budget. The company said that heat suppliers did not register protocols worth a total of Hr 124.9 million.

Gaz Ukrainy said that the debts of heat suppliers for consumed gas make it more difficult for Naftogaz Ukrainy to pay Russia's Gazprom for imported natural gas.