"In the last year, no progress has been made to ensure compliance with the certification conditions, and the situation worsened with regard to some aspects. The following aspects pertain to Ukrenergo’s corporate governance and are essential to ensure the independence of the transmission system operator," says Artur Lorkowski, Director of the Secretariat, in a letter addressed to Yuriy Vlasenko, Head of the NEURC, which is available to Energoreforma.
He noted that, it is the duty of national regulatory authorities to monitor the continuing compliance of transmission system operators with the unbundling
requirements. He added that regulators are also obliged to re-open a certification procedure to ensure such
compliance by the transmission system operators.
First of all, A. Lorkowski emphasised the need to appoint all four independent members of Ukrenergo's Supervisory Board by December 9 this year at the latest, when the contract with the only independent member (Roman Piontkovskyi – ER) expires, and then to appoint the Chairman of the Board.
He also emphasised that the position of another independent SB member has been vacant since April 2022, and the selection procedure announced in April 2024 has not yet been completed.
He also noted that in order for the independent Supervisory Board to fulfil its task of protecting Ukrenergo's operational and commercial activities from government interference, the company's Charter should be revised to increase the role of the Supervisory Board in decision-making.
In addition, the head of the EU Secretariat notes that in order to prevent conflicts of interest due to the dual role of the Ministry of Energy as a shareholder and energy policy maker, its order No. 1623 created a new separate structural unit for coordination and interaction of fuel and energy operators, which is directly subordinated to the Deputy Minister, who is entrusted with the Ministry's functions of managing the state's corporate rights in Ukrenergo.
In his opinion, it is also necessary to revise the order of the Ministry of Energy No. 408/2022, which, in particular, empowers the head of the Ministry of Energy to introduce control measures and make decisions that go beyond the powers of the system owner in accordance with the ISO model.
Artur Lorkowski reiterated that the Secretariat is ready to interact with the NEURC and all stakeholders to support these processes. "However, in the event compliance is not achieved by 9 December 2024, NEURC is requested to reopen the certification procedure for Ukrenergo,"
the letter says.
As reported, after the resignation of its independent members Daniel Dobbena and Peder Andreasen on August 3, 2024, who called the dismissal of Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi politically motivated, the Supervisory Board of Ukrenergo now consists of only four members: three state representatives and one independent member.
On October 10, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine announced a competitive selection for the positions of three independent members of the SB. The fourth independent member is being elected in parallel under a similar transparent procedure previously launched. Back in early September, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that there was a shortlist of three candidates and that a new member of the Supervisory Board would be appointed in the next two weeks. The appointment of all independent members of the SB should take place by December 9, 2024.
Documents are submitted from October 10 to October 31, 2024.
On December 20, 2021, the NEURC made the final decision on the certification of the NPC Ukrenergo as a European transmission system operator based on the ISO (independent system operator) model.
