Almost nine out of ten inspections in the housing and utilities sector found breaches of legislation on prices and pricing.
As a result, service providers were ordered to recalculate charges and return UAH 92.67m to consumers, the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection reported.
The figures cover the first eight months of this year. Overall, the agency’s specialists carried out 140 unscheduled inspections into the correct formation, setting and application of utility tariffs. Violations were found in 88.6% of cases.
Deputy Head of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection Andrii Kreitor noted that if consumers have doubts about whether tariff increases are justified, they can submit complaints about violations of their rights. Where there are grounds, specialists will carry out an inspection.
So far, offenders have been issued orders, administrative and economic sanctions have been applied, and the officials responsible have been held administratively liable.
As of the end of August, consumers have already been refunded UAH 636,800 in practice. Implementation of the other decisions is still under way.