Over 700,000 utility debts have been registered in Ukraine

Currently, there are 701,000 cases of utility debt collection in Ukraine. Since the start of the full-scale war, the number of debts has increased by 37%. As of February 2022, the register recorded 512,359 cases of unpaid utility bills.

At the end of last year, the Unified Register of Debtors had 659,684 utility debts. In six months, this number increased by 6.3%, reaching 701,051 cases.

The highest number of debtors reside in the Dnipropetrovsk region, with over 100,000 cases, accounting for 14.3% of the total. Following in the ranking are the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, with 94,800 and 79,700 cases, respectively.

36.9% of all debts are for unpaid heating bills, amounting to 258,800 cases. Following that, water supply debts account for 18.6% or 130,200 cases. Completing the top three are electricity debts with 67,900 cases or 9.7%.

For which other utility services do Ukrainians owe money:

• Housing services — 67,100 cases or 9.6%
• Gas supply — 59,700 cases or 8.5%
• Waste disposal — 7,600 cases or 1.1%.

In 15.6% of cases, the specific utility service could not be identified, which is approximately 109,000 debts.

Context

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Ukraine had a moratorium on the forced collection and disconnection of utility debtors. In 2024, this moratorium was lifted. Currently, restrictions only apply if the consumer’s home was damaged due to military actions.