Who Profits from Odessa's Utility Bills, and What Does GERTS Have to Do with It?

Every Odessa resident who pays utility bills pays a fee to the private company "HERTS"—even if they try to bypass it by using a different payment system. For example, the company charges an additional 20 hryvnias on water and electricity bills exceeding 700 hryvnias.

This is detailed in an investigation by Intent.

“HERTS” LLC officially positions itself as a developer of software solutions for banks and utility providers. However, in practice, it is through this company that Odessa residents pay for utilities in their apartments.

The system is set up so that even an attempt to pay for services through another payment system still redirects the payer to the “HERTS” website. For each payment, the company charges a 2% commission, with a minimum of 10 hryvnias.

A similar situation has arisen in Kyiv—the company collects utility payments there as well. 

Payments also go through “HERTS” for:

• kindergartens in Kyiv and Odesa;
• traffic fines;
• court fees and taxes;
• services provided by Odessa’s Administrative Service Centers—for example, the company charges 33 hryvnias to replace a foreign passport.

Along with these payments, the company also collects customers’ personal data—bank card numbers, full names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.

The Odesa City Hall rejects the claim that “HERTS” holds a monopoly, emphasizing that the company is not the only provider of financial services in the city.

However, the response did not explain why “HERTS” specifically has exclusive access to data on Odessa residents’ utility bills—after all, it is this company that sends paper bills to residents, something no bank does.

The development of the “ESAN” payment system, which “HERTS” used, was also not free for the city.

The Odessa City Council reported that as of 2010, the software cost over 1 million hryvnias. At the exchange rate at the time, that was about 135,000 dollars.

At the same time, the company itself has become a major recipient of government contracts over the years. Since 2017, “HERTS” has signed contracts with government agencies totaling more than 660 million hryvnias.

A separate affiliated entity—GERTS Payment Center LLC—has also received government contracts worth more than 600 million hryvnias.

The companies are linked to businessman Kostyantyn Tkach. In particular, he owns an investment fund that is part of the “HERTS” ownership structure.

Ірина Глухова