New organization is eager to play on energy market
“ The problems connected with monopolies are of interest to all Ukrainians,” First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Fuel and Electricity Complex, Nuclear Policy, and Nuclear Safety Oleksiy Kucherenko declared at a September 13 press conference. According to him, the losses of companies due to the uncontrolled policies of energy, transport, and other monopolies come to millions and tens of millions of hryvnias. “When the state owned these monopolies, primarily the oblast electricity (oblenerho) companies, the situation was complex but the government managed to more or less keep these problems under control. Today, when monopolies are privately owned, everything is becoming much more complex,” he said.
To protect domestic producers and all Ukrainians from monopolists’ arbitrary actions, Mr. Kucherenko initiated the creation of an unusual all-Ukrainian volunteer organization, the Association of Consumers of Monopoly Services. The new formation includes fifteen lawmakers, among them Roman Bezsmertny, Petro Poroshenko, Yekateryna Vashchuk, Vadym Hurov, Mykhailo Kovalko, Vitaly Zhuravsky, et. al. Minister of Fuel and Energy Stanislav Stashevsky, his deputy Oleksandr Krut, First Vice President of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Oleksandr Shnipko, member of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission Yury Kiyashko, and others have pledged cooperation with the new formation. Kucherenko said it was thanks to the support of these respected figures that “our association will win even more social attention.”
Even more interesting assessment of the association’s membership was given by Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for Industrial Policy Hurov, “The government, the UUIE, the Presidential Administration, seemingly all the combatants, have agreed to oppose monopolies and protect consumers. After all, everyone wants transparent management and payment procedures.”
“We are for the development of a balanced system of relationships between owners and consumers. There should be a third force which would control the monopolists,” Kucherenko continued. In this context, it must be stated that association representatives consider the Anti-Monopoly Committee’s track record weak, explaining that it is a state organ. “Whether they want it or not, the AMC is under pressure from lawmakers (while the association founders are lawmakers themselves — Ed.) and other powerful forces,” he maintains. Meanwhile, according to President Kuchma’s representative in parliament Roman Bezsmertny, the most productive would be a trilateral dialogue involving consumers, producers, and the state.
This argument, however, gives rise to a host of questions. Does the new association have a mandate from all consumers? Why is it going to fight the monopolists specifically on the energy market? A plain statement by Mr. Bezsmertny might provide the answer, “Today those with money in their pockets dictate to the market. To organize them, some sort of association is needed. Are there any guarantees, then, that the new structure will not become a kind of a racketeer for monopoly companies, wringing out concessions and benefits favorable for its member and the consumers? And it is difficult to imagine how consumers, without giving lawmakers a mandate to protect their interests, will be able to control this organization.
