During the war, when every budget hryvnia was worth its weight in gold, the story of the Chernihiv CHP became an illustration of how private business can bring obligations built up over years into the public sphere — and leave the knot to the local community to untangle. We are talking about former People's Deputy Anatoly Shkriblyak and his LLC "Firm "Technova", which operated the city-forming station for a long time, but instead of modernizing and implementing investment programs, left behind debts, broken infrastructure, and lawsuits.
The financial hole that opened at the end of the lease is striking in its scale. From June 2021 to August 2022, Tekhnova formed overdue debts to Naftogaz Trading LLC in the amount of UAH 568.7 million. In May 2022, the Chernihiv City Council took a radical step: it terminated the lease agreement early and took the Chernihiv CHP into municipal ownership. Along with the destroyed buildings and networks, the city also received "hidden" obligations. Damage from damage to infrastructure was then estimated at UAH 803 million - an amount commensurate with the annual needs of a number of city programs from heat to transport.
Instead of paying off its debts, in 2023, Technova tried to legally build a bridge to co-finance its own problems. The company filed a lawsuit with the Commercial Court of Kyiv demanding that the local authorities and Naftogaz Trading conclude an agreement on mutual settlements for over UAH 241 million. The court refused: concluding such agreements is not mandatory and is not directly provided for by law. However, in parallel, another, much more effective combination for the debtor unfolded. Already on October 3, 2023, an agreement was concluded on the transfer of debt: Technova's obligations to the gas supplier fell on the municipal enterprise Teplokomunenergo of the Chernihiv City Council.
Legally, this looks correct: civil law allows for debt transfer with the consent of the creditor. In fact, it is about the socialization of private losses - when commercial risks and management failures of a private company turn into a burden for the city budget, tariffs and taxpayers. More than half a billion hryvnias, which arose in the relationship between the private tenant of the CHP and the resource supplier, ended up on the balance sheet of the municipal corporation, which provides heat and hot water to thousands of households. In wartime conditions, when local budgets are patching holes in schools, hospitals and networks, such a "redeployment" of debt means one thing: less flexible financial maneuvering and greater risks for the program of preparation for the heating seasons.
The context in which all this happened raises questions about the quality of management of the critical infrastructure facility in previous years. According to the terms of the lease and investment obligations, the station was supposed to be renovated, increase efficiency, reduce losses, and switch to modern solutions in terms of energy efficiency. Instead, the city received a "tired" generation, millions in debts for gas, and a set of lawsuits, including an attempt to force the budget and the state company to become co-authors of mutual settlements. The court did not support this approach, but the mechanics of transferring the debt did its job by changing the label on the debt folder.
Politically, this is a story about responsibility for management decisions during the war. Where private investment and partnership modernization were expected, the community is forced to take on other people's accounts. Where competition and a development strategy were supposed to work, we have a classic example of "privatization of profits and nationalization of losses." And if at the level of legal formulations everything looks flawless, then at the level of the city's economy the consequences are obvious: a shortage of working capital at the utility operator, delays in repairs, more expensive loans for preparation for the season and inevitable pressure on tariffs in the medium term.
The next steps are crucial. The city will have to simultaneously support the operation of the CHP, close debt "holes" and look for sources for modernization. It is important for the community to achieve a full audit of the lease period - with recording the implementation/non-implementation of investment programs, identification of decisions that led to obligations, and determination of personal responsibility where it exists. Otherwise, the story with the Chernihiv CHP will become a pattern: a private operator takes cash flows in "fat" years, and when a crisis occurs - losses are imposed on the shoulders of taxpayers.
Chernihiv has already paid a high price: 803 million in damages, 568.7 million in gas debt, an attempt to legally add another 241 million to the budget through mutual settlements, and, finally, the transfer of debt to a municipal enterprise. This is not just a set of numbers — it is a direct threat to the quality of services and the stability of city finances in the coming years. At a time when the country is fighting for survival, such stories should receive not only a legal, but also a managerial assessment — so that “full-fledged oligarchic schemes” cease to be the background for the everyday life of the community.
