At the very beginning of the invasion, the United Energy company, owned by Ihor Kolomoisky’s partner Mykhailo Kiperman, received a significant amount of electricity from the National Energy Complex Ukrenergo worth over 1.4 billion hryvnias. After that, it resold this electricity on the market, but did not pay the operator for it. This scheme was probably implemented with the help of the NEK management. This was reported by journalist and TV presenter Serhiy Ivanov in his investigation published on the YouTube channel and noted by the publication “Facts”.
In his investigation, the journalist noted that during the occupation of the Kyiv region in the spring of 2022, United Energy received electricity from Ukrenergo for a large amount, but did not pay for it. Interestingly, the NEC management did not take any measures to prevent such a scheme, which would have been provided for by the Energy Market Rules and could have made this theft impossible.
Sergey Ivanov noted that the inaction of NEC officials may be related to a possible conflict of interest of the company's chairman.
"Kudrytsky is a person who has an obvious interest for Kolomoisky. He began his journey in the big energy industry, working as the development director of Ukrtransnafta, when it was controlled by Kolomoisky," the journalist noted.
He also recalled the rallies of workers protesting against former NEK chairman Vsevolod Kovalchuk, organized at factories controlled by Kolomoisky, and pointed to the disappearance of these protests after the appointment of Volodymyr Kudrytskyi as the company's chairman.
The journalist also noted that in the situation with the non-payment of United Energy, the State Audit Service and the National Commission for the Regulation of Energy and Utilities of Ukraine found officials of NPC Ukrenergo responsible. However, the state-owned company is trying to shift the blame to the guarantor bank Alliance, taking action against it in court. The bank itself claims that the terms of the guarantee were violated by the parties to the agreement, and is successfully defending its interests in court.
Serhiy Ivanov expressed surprise that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau has been investigating this case since May 2022, but does not pay attention to the possible conflict of interest between Kolomoisky and Kudrytsky.
