Kim about the debts of the residents of Mykolaiv region for the utility bills: «None are assured of tomorrow»

The leader of the Mykolaiv RMA Vitalii Kim at the Conference on the Reconstruction of Ukraine, June 11, 2024, photo NikVesti

Vitalii Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, believes that the large number of debts for housing and communal services in the region is connected with the impact of the war on the financial and psychological situation of people.

He expressed this opinion on the air of the telethon «Yedyni Novyny», commenting on information about more than 29 thousand proceedings for the collection of debts for housing and communal services in the Mykolaiv region, NikVesti writes.

«We are reducing this non-payment. Last year, we definitely reduced it. The problem is that people live now in a state of war. That is, there are risks and none are assured of tomorrow. Therefore, spending money is the last thing people do. Money can always be spent. In my opinion, everyone will pay when it is the last day, the last minute, or it will be impossible to pull and it will be necessary to pay, because the heat will be cut off,» Vitalii Kim believes.

He also called on the residents of the region to pay debts for housing and communal services.

«That's why I'm a bit philosophical about it, although he calls on everyone to pay. Many of us who are abroad pay utility bills here, thereby helping local budgets,» he added.

What about the debts in Mykolaiv?

As of January 2024, residents of Mykolaiv owe more than 241 million hryvnias for water supply and drainage services. Among the regions of Ukraine, the people of Mykolaiv became one of the biggest debtors for water supply services.

In social networks, they began to publish advertising videos with threats to block Mykolaiv residents' credit cards due to debt. In a comment to NikVesti, the director of KP Borys Dudenko explained that the purpose of such videos is to convey to the population the need to pay for debts.

And as of the end of October 2023, the total debt of the residents of Mykolaiv for heat supply services to the Regional Heat and Power Company amounted to 213 million hryvnias. By that time, the townspeople had already paid 95% of the debt for the 2022/23 heating season, and currently the sum of last year's debt is 90 million hryvnias. The director of «Mykolayivoblteploenergo» stated that in 2024 the company plans to introduce a two-rate tariff. This means that residents of Mykolaiv will pay for heating throughout the year, not just during the heating season, but in winter the payments will be higher.