Energy Efficiency in Ukraine – slow progress despite political sabotage?
Energy Efficiency in Ukraine – slow progress despite political sabotage?

Author(s): Andrii Chubyk
Subject(s): Politics, Energy and Environmental Studies, Economic policy, Environmental and Energy policy
Published by: Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA)
Keywords: Ukraine; economy; energy; efficiency; progress; politics; sabotage;
Summary/Abstract: Energy efficiency is reasonably considered to be the cheapest kind of energy because one does not have to pay for extraction, transportation and utilization since resources are saved. Given this, it has not been welcomed much by the Ukrainian state so far, despite the disastrous effects of energy-intensive consumption on industry and households, and the related political and existential threats. Energy efficiency attracts the attention of a wide audience only when it relates to high energy prices and the strong enforcement of laws on misuse and theft. Neither of these has been favored much by the Ukrainian authorities so far. Changes from the bottom up, initiated by civil activists, cannot change the situation quickly; there is a need to combine state and public efforts. The unpopular but necessary price unification on the main energy sources, in particular gas and electricity, has been still not completed. Despite proclaimed course toward liberalized energy market and price unification, through 2016 and in first quarter 2017 electricity prices went up both for industries and for private households, thus keeping cross-subsidizing alive.

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