Azarov: Government not planning to raise penalty for late payment of utility bills to 300%

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is not considering the possibility of charging people an additional penalty of 300% of the debt on the late payment of utility bills, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said.

"There are rumors that the government is allegedly planning to charge people a penalty for the late payment of utility bills of an amount of up to 300% of the debt. I want to reassure our people - do not believe these rumors," he said, while opening a government meeting on Wednesday.

Azarov also addressed the ministers: "I want to advise certain ministers not to give rise to such rumors. Speak more correctly. And remember that the opinion of individual ministers is not always the opinion of the government. Remember this."

Earlier, Minister for Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Anatoliy Blyzniuk said that the Regional Development Ministry did not rule out an increase in the size of the penalty for the late payment for utility services to 300%.

"It's necessary to raise the question of calculating the penalty for overdue utility bills, and therefore we are initiating this question. Now we're talking about how much to charge - 100%, 200%, or 300% of the debt," he said.