A DTEK client refuses to pay a debt of 13,183 UAH due to martial law – here's the court's decision.

DTEK employees discovered a violation at the woman's address, which involved interference with the operation of the meter. She refuses to pay a debt of 13,183 hryvnias due to the state of martial law. This is stated in the decision of the Nikopol City District Court of Dnipropetrovsk region, published on December 2, 2022.

On June 2, 2020, DTEK representatives conducted a consumer compliance check with the Retail Electricity Market Rules (PREE) and identified violations by the consumer of subsection 7 of paragraph 8.2.4 of the Retail Electricity Market Rules, specifically: clear signs of interference with the parameters of the metering device to alter its readings by impacting the electric meter NIK 2301 APZ No. 0370578 using a physical field from a radio-electronic device, resulting in damage to the integrity of the meter's housing, leading to discrepancies in the recorded electrical energy consumption. The radio-electronic device was seized, and the violation was documented in a report. Based on subsection 3 of paragraph 8.4.8 of the PREE, using formula 5 and the decision of the Nikopol RES commission regarding violations by the consumer of the PREE, the volume of unaccounted electricity and the amount of damage caused by the consumer were determined. The value of the unaccounted electricity according to the report dated June 2, 2020, amounts to 18,833 hryvnias. Notably, on July 15, 2020, the woman partially paid a debt of 5,650 hryvnias and on July 17, 2020, submitted an application for a debt restructuring agreement for the remaining debt of 13,183 hryvnias. However, since then, she has not made any payments towards the debt. On May 14, 2021, a pre-trial demand for voluntary payment of the damage was sent to her address, which was subsequently ignored.

The woman submitted a response to the lawsuit, stating the following. She does not recognize the claims made against her, citing that due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, based on the decree of the President of Ukraine dated February 24, 2022, "On the Introduction of Martial Law," the imposition and collection of charges (fines, penalties), inflationary charges, and interest accrued for late or incomplete payment of housing and communal services are prohibited. Therefore, based on the aforementioned, she believes that since the duration of martial law in Ukraine has been extended, the collection of the debt for the unaccounted electricity amounting to 13,183 hryvnias is prohibited.

What was the court's decision?

The court granted the claim. The woman is ordered to pay the amount for the unaccounted electricity due to her violation of the PREE to the joint-stock company "DTEK Dnipro Electric Networks" in the amount of 13,183 hryvnias.

"Considering that the defendant has not voluntarily compensated the damage caused to JSC DTEK 'Dnipro Electric Networks' in the form of unaccounted electricity amounting to 13,183 hryvnias, no evidence of her innocence in causing damage to the plaintiff has been provided, and on the contrary, in the submitted response to the lawsuit, she did not present any objections regarding the calculation. Therefore, the judge believes that the claims made are justified and should be granted. Regarding the objections presented by the defendant in her response to the lawsuit and references to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 206 dated March 5, 2022, 'Certain Issues of Payment for Housing and Communal Services During Martial Law,' which outlines prohibitions on charges and collections during martial law or incomplete payments by the population for housing and communal services, the court does not take them into account, as it is evident from the calculation submitted by the plaintiff, who requests compensation for the damage caused due to the loss of funds from electricity. The amount of losses was calculated based on the procedure for determining the amount of compensation for damages caused to the energy supplier due to the theft of electricity, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 122 dated February 8, 2006. Additionally, no objections regarding the submitted calculation were provided by the defendant, who only referenced the aforementioned circumstance as a basis for denying the plaintiff's claim. Therefore, in this case, there are no grounds for applying the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 206 dated March 5, 2022, 'Certain Issues of Payment for Housing and Communal Services During Martial Law,' and consequently, the claim is justified and should be granted," the court emphasized.