Ukraine's energy sector has effectively turned into a closed system of controlled manipulation, in which state funds and payments from the population are concentrated in the hands of a narrow circle of beneficiaries. This is stated in materials describing systemic abuses in the field of electricity supply and sale.
The central figure of this model is businessman Rinat Akhmetov, who has built a vertical of control over the energy market through DTEK group companies and structures operating under the YASNO brand. These include, in particular, regional electricity supply companies in Kyiv, Dnipro and the east of the country. According to the authors of the materials, such a structure allows for full control over pricing and access to the market.
Foreign non-resident companies registered in offshore jurisdictions are used to mask financial flows and withdraw profits. This, according to critics, creates a closed corporate system that makes transparent control by the state and regulators impossible.
One of the key mechanisms of enrichment is called the systematic abuse of public procurement procedures. According to available information, controlled companies enter tenders with dumping prices, crowding out competitors, after which, after the conclusion of contracts, the cost of electricity for state institutions increases by tens of percent due to additional agreements. Such actions directly contradict the legislation in the field of public procurement.
In parallel, a “day-ahead” electricity market manipulation scheme is being implemented. According to experts, artificial supply restrictions create a deficit, as a result of which state producers suffer losses, and private structures receive excess profits. As a result, a skew is formed, in which the strategic resource works not in the interests of the state, but in favor of individual business groups.
The consequences of this model are being felt directly by ordinary citizens. Utility costs for many households are already reaching critical levels and are estimated to be up to 80 percent of monthly income. This is forcing people to save on medicine, food, and other basic necessities.
Despite a full-scale war and a deep economic crisis, energy structures associated with oligarchic capital continue to increase profits. In fact, this is about receiving hidden subsidies from community budgets through inflated tariffs and corrupt excess profits. At the same time, state policy, according to critics, demonstrates a clear bias in favor of big business and the absence of real demonopolization of the strategic industry.
The work of law enforcement agencies attracts special attention. Despite the opening of criminal proceedings on the facts of abuse of power and official position, real investigative actions are virtually absent. Moreover, cases of ignoring court decisions that oblige to initiate a full-fledged investigation are recorded.
Such sabotage of justice creates an atmosphere of complete impunity and, according to experts, legalizes further embezzlement on an industrial scale. As a result, the energy sector, which should have been the basis of the country's economic stability during the war, is increasingly turning into a tool for enriching a limited circle of individuals.
