Starting from July 1, 2024, legal entities will be required to make 100% prepayments for electricity and natural gas, according to a resolution by the Cabinet of Ministers dated April 16 on raising tariffs for energy resources. This measure is being reintroduced after a previous period from July 2017 to February 2019 when the advance payment was set at 50%.
At the end of last year, the Ministry of Energy explained that the decision was necessary due to a lack of metering devices and other equipment, which led to consumers illicitly connecting to the power grid and falsifying data on electricity consumption. In 2023, 39.5 thousand such violations were identified, causing a damage of 355.3 billion sum to the supplying enterprise.
During the same period, 13.2 thousand wholesale consumers used 1.46 billion cubic meters of gas without advance payments, resulting in a debtor balance of 90.2 billion sum. Moreover, the debt of gas stations reached 59.9 billion sum by November 1 (+1% since the beginning of the year). The implementation of prepayments is expected to prevent the increase of debtor balances.
