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A subscriber is demanding 20,865 hryvnias from DTEK for a violation report – here's the court's decision.

Абонентка требует от ДТЭК 20 865 гривен за составленный акт нарушения. Какое решение вынес суд?

Workers from DTEK discovered an unauthorized connection to the electrical grid during an inspection of a woman's apartment. She has been asked to pay the cost of unaccounted electricity amounting to 12,033 hryvnias. She refuses, arguing that the violation report is fraudulent and demanding compensation of 20,865 hryvnias. This was stated in the decision of the Kryvorizhsky District Court of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, published on July 18, 2023.

On April 23, 2015, DTEK representatives conducted an inspection of compliance with the electricity consumption rules and found violations of item 48 of these rules, specifically: "Unauthorized connection of wiring to the electrical network outside the metering device, meaning a violation of the metering scheme, in a concealed manner." The fact of the violation was recorded in a report, based on which the amount of unaccounted electricity was calculated, totaling 12,033 hryvnias, charged for the period from April 22, 2013, up to the moment the violation was detected on April 28, 2015.

On March 12, 2020, the woman submitted a response to the lawsuit, stating that during the inspection for compliance with electricity consumption rules in her apartment, the energy supply workers committed fraudulent actions by forcibly entering her apartment without her consent and taking photographs. Moreover, no unauthorized connection was found, with the report noting that the connection point was impossible to detect. Additionally, she claimed that the violation report was null and void and was drawn up improperly. The citizen filed a counterclaim for compensation of the debt for consumed but unaccounted electricity due to the violation of the electricity usage rules for the population, requesting the court to address DTEK's violation of the Law of Ukraine "On Consumer Rights Protection," for providing knowingly false information to the consumer, misleading her as a consumer, and illegal use of her personal data as a consumer, and for damages caused by the unlawful actions of the legal entity JSC "DTEK Dnipro Electricity Networks," declaring the provision of utility services, and for the falsification of the violation report - to recover moral damages in the amount of 20,865 hryvnias.

What decision did the court make?

The court granted the claim. The woman is to pay the joint-stock company "DTEK Dnipro Electricity Networks" the debt according to the violation report dated April 23, 2015, in the amount of 12,033 hryvnias.

"The court, taking into account that the defendant did not appear at the hearing, finds that her assertions regarding the unlawful actions of the plaintiff's representatives and the rudeness of the violation report are refuted by the evidence available in the case materials, believes that sufficient evidence has been gathered in the hearing confirming the defendant's violation of the electricity usage rules for the population, which resulted in the presence of unaccounted electricity amounting to 12,033 hryvnias, which is subject to recovery from the defendant under Article of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated July 26, 1999, No. 1357," the court emphasized.