Utility company in Odesa region fined for abuses at cemetery

The Administrative Board of the Southern Interregional Territorial Department of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has fined the utility company Misto-Service of the Ananiev City Council for abuse of monopoly power.

According to the department's press service, the violations consisted of charging for ritual services for digging graves in the summertime at rates that exceed the current tariffs for such services set by the decision of the executive committee of the Ananiev City Council.

Antimonopoly officials insist that the utility company charged customers who undertook to bury the dead at rates that exceeded the current ones by UAH 493.9, namely, instead of charging a fee of UAH 1,923, the utility company charged a fee of UAH 2.4 thousand.

"These actions of Misto-Service led to the infringement of consumers' interests in the form of paying extra money for these services," the AMCU said.

Antimonopolists are confident that such behavior of Misto-Service became possible only due to the lack of choice for consumers of other providers (contractors) of funeral services for digging a grave (digging a grave by hand) and is the result of the use of market power.

In view of the above, the Office found that due to market power, Misto-Service was able to charge excessive fees, which resulted in infringement of the interests of consumers of these services.

In the course of the case, the utility company stopped violating the legislation on protection of economic competition. It was fined UAH 22,188 for the violation.

Earlier, the Southern Interregional Territorial Department of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine initiated proceedings on the grounds of collusion between two limited liability companies in a tender to determine a contractor for the repair of a school in Odesa region.

Кирило Бойко