Utilities exposed for water extortion in Odesa suburb

In Odesa region, antitrust authorities have fined a utility company that imposed illegal water supply services.

This was reported by the Southern Interregional Territorial Department of the Antimonopoly Committee.

Thus, the company Nadiia abused its monopoly position in the water supply and sewerage market by imposing its own conditions on consumers when connecting to water supply systems. The company charged fees for services related to the coordination of water metering units that were not provided for by the current legislation.

The decision on these services was approved by the executive committee of the Fontanka village council, which was also recognized as a violation of competition law, as it legitimized the actions of the utility company.

However, during the course of the case, the violation was terminated. Nadiia stopped collecting illegal payments, and the Fontansky village council amended its decision to remove the approval of these services. Despite this, Nadiya was still fined UAH 46,026 for violating the law on protection of economic competition.

Recently, the antitrust authorities imposed a fine on a passenger transportation company for failure to provide information. The company in question is Avtoline Odesa LLC.

Earlier, two Odesa hotels added stars to their hotels, although they did not have the relevant documents. Antimonopoly authorities imposed a fine on these hotels.

In particular, the hotels posted information about the star rating on their buildings and booking websites, indicating that they had "4" and "5" stars. However, during the inspection, it was found that the register of valid certificates of hotel categories maintained by the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine did not contain information on the validity of these hotels' star ratings.

Also, the Southern Interregional Territorial Department of the Antimonopoly Committee accused the municipal enterprise "Heat Supply of Odesa" of abusing its monopoly position in the market.