The apartment owner refuses to pay her debt to DTEK despite the power outage in her unit. What was the court's ruling on this matter?

A woman used the services of DTEK but has not fully met her obligations regarding the payment of her electricity debt, which amounts to 4,346 hryvnias. She requests the court to dismiss the claim due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. This is stated in the decision of the Svyatoshyn District Court of Kyiv, published on March 4, 2024.

The woman is a consumer of electric energy supplied by DTEK Kyiv Electric Networks until January 1, 2019. An analysis of payments revealed that while she utilized the services, she did not fully comply with her payment obligations, which as of January 1, 2019, amounted to 4,346 hryvnias for 015390 kWh. The total debt, accounting for inflation and 3% annual interest, is 5,242 hryvnias.

During the court hearing, the woman explained that her electricity was turned off in January 2019, but the outlets continued to function; however, after some time, they also stopped working. In addition to her, her two daughters lived in the apartment, but the electricity supply contract is signed with her. Currently, no one resides in the apartment, and she has not received subsidies since 2016, which is why she does not pay for electricity supply services. Therefore, she asks the court to dismiss the claim due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

What was the court's decision?

The court granted the claim. The woman is ordered to pay DTEK Kyiv Electric Networks the cost of consumed electricity in the amount of 4,346 hryvnias, plus 3% annual interest and an inflation component of 895 hryvnias, totaling 5,242 hryvnias.

"The defendant used the services provided by the plaintiff but failed to make the proper payments for the consumed electricity, which is confirmed by the debt calculation indicating that from December 2014 to May 2023, a debt of 4,346 hryvnias was incurred. Since the defendant is a consumer of the services and was obligated to make payments for such services to PJSC 'DTEK Kyiv Electric Networks,' but did not make timely and regular payments, this led to the accumulation of debt, which must be collected forcibly. The court rejects her reference to the plaintiff's expiration of the statute of limitations as a basis for dismissing the claim, as the statute had not expired at the time of the plaintiff's application to the court due to provisions defined by the Law of Ukraine dated March 30, 2020, No. 540-IX," the court emphasized.