Due to a lack of seals on the meter, DTEK charged a Kyiv resident 286,769 hryvnias. Here’s the court's ruling on the matter.

Employees of DTEK discovered a violation at the woman's address, which involves the absence of seals on the meter. She is being asked to pay a sum of 286,769 hryvnias for unaccounted electricity, but she refuses. This is stated in the decision of the Svyatoshyn District Court of Kyiv, published on January 29, 2025.

On March 14, 2023, employees of DTEK Kyiv Electric Networks found a violation of the Law of Ukraine "On the Electricity Market," specifically points 2.3.2, 2.3.4, 5.5.5 of the Electricity Market Rules, and points 5.16.11, 5.16.18, 5.16.19, 6.4.2 of the Consumer Code, which corresponds to a violation of point 8.4.2 of the Electricity Market Rules – "the absence of seals with OSR stamps, which are installed on the incoming switching apparatus and on the protective casing of the incoming switch; the missing OSR seal was found next to the metering cabinet." Based on the identified violations, a violation report was compiled. As a result of the consideration of the violation report at the commission meeting on March 14, 2023, the commission decided to charge for unaccounted electricity for the period from September 14, 2022, to March 13, 2023, in the amount of 286,769 hryvnias. She believes that the conclusions presented in the violation report dated March 14, 2023, and reflected in the decision of the DTEK Kyiv Electric Networks commission regarding the violation report, formalized in a protocol, regarding her alleged involvement in the tampering of seals - are completely inaccurate.

Two days before the inspection, specifically on March 11, 2023, six official reports were made to DTEK Kyiv Electric Networks about the lack of electricity at the address and the severing of the cable, for which she is held responsible according to the reports. The consumer could not report the absence of the seal, as the metering cabinet, where the meter is located, is outside her territory and is locked, with the key not provided to her, thus she has no access to the meter and the seals installed inside the cabinet. The meter readings are taken remotely through a glass window. She specifically emphasized that signs of a criminal offense were first discovered at the location on February 17, 2023, namely: unknown individuals had cut the fiber optic internet wire, and the electricity supply to the house was disconnected at RSh-2, which led to the disconnection of the house's security system, with this information entered into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations on April 4, 2023. On March 11, 2023, police were also called regarding illegal actions by unidentified individuals, and the offense was recorded, which was also reported to DTEK. In particular, on the day the lawsuit was filed (September 4, 2024), the metal metering cabinet containing the meter was shot at with a firearm by an unknown person, which was documented by the police in a scene inspection report, and explanations were taken from the citizen. This indicates that unknown individuals (or an individual) are continuously committing illegal acts aimed at disconnecting her property from electricity supply.

"The plaintiff has not provided any evidence to support the invalidity of the decision made by the defendant, as based on a proper assessment of the evidence collected in the case, it follows that the procedure for compiling the violation report and the minutes of the commission meeting regarding this report was carried out in accordance with the requirements of current legislation," - stated DTEK.

What did the court decide? 

The court denied the woman’s claim. DTEK acted in accordance with current legislation when compiling the report and calculated the volume and cost of unaccounted electricity in line with the relevant requirements.

"The court found no evidence in the case to confirm the invalidity of the decision made by the defendant, as based on a proper evaluation of the evidence collected in the case, it follows that the procedure for compiling the violation report and the minutes of the commission meeting regarding this report was conducted in accordance with the requirements of current legislation. Given that the plaintiff did not prove her claims with proper evidence and violations of her rights by the defendant, the court concludes that the defendant acted in accordance with current legislation when compiling the report and calculated the volume and cost of unaccounted electricity in accordance with the requirements of section 8.4 of section VIII of the Electricity Market Rules. Therefore, the court concludes that the lawsuit seeking to declare the commission's decision unlawful and to annul it is unfounded, and her arguments are based on assumptions and are not supported by proper and admissible evidence," - emphasized the court.