The Dobropole City Council and the local military administration have sued Rinat Akhmetov’s Donetsk Energy Services for UAH 915,000 in overpayments for electricity. The decision was made by the Commercial Court of Dnipropetrovs’k region in case No. 904/2182/24, reports Komersant ukrainskyi
The essence of the case was that in January 2021, the Education Department of the Dobropole City Council entered into two electricity supply agreements with Donetsk Energy Services LLC. According to the main terms, the total amount of the first contract was UAH 3,044,247.68, the cost per kWh was UAH 3.2954, and the volume of electricity was 923,787 kWh. The amount of the second contract was UAH 1,455,749.54, the cost per kWh was UAH 3.2954, and the volume was 441,752 kWh. Financing was provided by the local budget and partially by the tenants. An important condition of the contracts was that the price of electricity could change by no more than 10% in the event of market price fluctuations.
However, simultaneously with the main contracts, additional agreements were entered into that changed their terms. Under the supplemental agreements, the volume of electricity under the first contract was reduced to 850,123 kWh and the price per kWh was increased to UAH 3.58095, which was an increase of 8.7%. Under the second contract, the volume was reduced to 401,958 kWh and the price was increased to UAH 3.62164 per 1 kWh, which was an increase of 9.9%.
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However, the education department overpaid even for these additional conditions. Thus, the price for electricity for them reached UAH 5.02 and even UAH 5.9 per 1 kWh.
The court found that the additional agreements were concluded without proper grounds, which violated the law and led to unjustified spending of local budget funds. As a result, the court ordered Donetsk Energy Services LLC to refund UAH 915,137.94, which was overpaid as a result of the invalid agreements.
This decision underscores the importance of compliance with the law in public procurement and the protection of public interests.