The government cannot limit DTEK’s “appetite” to make money from increasing tariffs

While Ukrainian businesses are afraid to stop working due to constant power outages, and the population is dissatisfied with the tariff increase by 70% - up to 4.32 UAH per kWh, at least one company can be proud of the latest government decisions - it has its own income will be able to receive. We are talking about the DTEK (Donetsk Fuel and Energy Company) group of companies owned by the richest Ukrainian, Rinat Akhmetov.

DTEK – what it owned and what it lost

The first thing you need to know about DTEK’s business is that, in essence, it is a management company that manages a huge number of enterprises and companies that are formally part of its structure, but often the companies do not directly belong to it. Actually, according to data from the YouControl analytical service, the main area of ​​activity of DTEK LLC is the activities of main departments (head offices), that is, management of other companies.

Nevertheless, on the DTEK website in the “Our Business” section you can see a whole group of companies with the DTEK prefix - “Energo”, “RES”, “Oil and Gas”, “Trading” and others. However, in fact, they often do not belong to DTEK LLC.

Thus, DTEK Energy is 100% owned by DTEK ENERGY BV, a company registered in the Netherlands, which in turn owns DTEK LLC itself. But since the company from the distant Netherlands is owned by Rinat Akhmetov, it is clear why DTEK LLC is the parent structure and manages the entire energy business of the entrepreneur in Ukraine.

But still, what was DTEK like before the war:

— DTEK Energy — unites the group’s coal assets, primarily DTEK Pavlogradugol, Vostok-, Zapad- and Dneproenergo with 8 thermal power plants (with a capacity of 13,527 MW), as well as a number of factories for the production of mining equipment;

— “DTEK RES” — manages assets involved in the production of green electricity from renewable energy sources (RES), including Trifonovskaya, Nikopolskaya and Pokrovskaya solar, Oryol, Botievskaya, Primorskaya and Tiligulskaya wind power plants;

— DTEK Neftegaz — engaged in exploration and production of oil and gas in the Poltava and Kharkov regions;

— DTEK Grids is engaged in the distribution of electricity in five regions of Ukraine, including Kyiv, and it is their teams that restore the supply of light or limit it;

— DTEK Trading is the most important part of the group, since it is it that sells electricity and forms the main financial flows of the holding;

— DTEK Solutions, coordinates the work of electricity supply companies;

— DTEK MODUS X — is responsible for information security and digital technologies in the company.

Of this entire list, the largest losses were suffered by DTEK Energy and DTEK Renewables.

Thus, since February 1, DTEK Energo reported 6 major attacks on its thermal power plants, the largest of which occurred on 4 thermal power plants on April 27. And since February 24, there have been more than 170 of these attacks.

DTEK RES lost the Oryol, Botievskaya and Primorskaya wind power plants located in the occupied part of the Zaporozhye region, but restored the Trifonovskaya SPP in the liberated Kherson region, and also launched the Tiligul wind power plant.

Due to the fighting in the Kharkiv region, the business of DTEK Neftegaz also suffered, but the company did not abandon investments in exploration.

DTEK is getting richer

Although in the summer of 2022, Forbes-Ukraine noted that the richest Ukrainian, Rinat Akhmetov, became poorer three times - to $4.6 billion, and the value of DTEK fell more than 3 times - from $1.9 billion. up to 580 million, they correctly guessed what could help a businessman get out of the crisis. Then we were talking about coal mining.

Indeed, the main asset of Akhmetov’s coal business, PJSC DTEK Pavlogradugol, almost doubled its revenue during the war, raising income from UAH 23.9 billion in 2021 to UAH 44.2 billion in 2023.

The most profitable part of the businessman’s energy holding is DTEK Trading, which, despite the war, increased its income by about a third in two years, from UAH 122.5 billion in 2021 to UAH 165.6 billion in 2023.

However, in general, DTEK's financial statements, as well as its ownership structure, are very confusing. Thus, DTEK Energy LLC, as a management company, earned UAH 1 billion 261 million in 2023, which is approximately 200 million more than before the Russian invasion. At the same time, as the company reported in the media, the group sent its profit for 2023 to repair thermal power plants, and this is UAH 13.7 billion. Whether we are talking about the company’s entire income or just net profit is unclear.

Is electricity the most expensive in Ukraine – and was it like that even before the increase on June 1?

A reasonable question arises: how, exactly, did DTEK earn additional tens of billions of hryvnias in its energy empire. And there may be many answers to it.

For example, in May 2023, the National Commission for the Regulation of Energy and Utilities (NCREKU) suspected the management of the state-owned Energoatom of collusion with Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK. The National Commission noticed that for some reason Energoatom could not sell electricity on the free market, and in the end sold it as “extra” at 1 kopeck per 1 MW, which DTEK immediately resold for 3,000 hryvnia.

Another example is the so-called price caps (upper and lower limits on electricity prices) for industry. In June, the same NEURC set the lower threshold of 1 MW at 3,000 hryvnia, which, according to Market Operator JSC, brought Ukrainian electricity to second place in Europe at a price of 2,930 UAH per MW; it was more expensive only in Italy – 4,460 hryvnia.

People's Deputy and head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy and Housing and Public Utilities Andriy Gerus directly called this a consequence of the actions of lobbyists of energy oligarchs. And it is DTEK, which controls from 25 to 30% of Ukrainian energy and is the largest private company in the Ukrainian energy sector, that fits this description.

But the same rule, as it turns out, also applies to the electricity tariff for the population. Thus, back in April 2024, the founder of the public organization “Union of Utility Consumers of Ukraine” Oleg Popenko argued that Ukraine had the most expensive electricity in Europe - almost 60 euros per 1 MW.

“The Ministry of Energy tells us that the cost of electricity in Ukraine is about 1.5 UAH per kWh, or 1,500 UAH per MWh, that’s 38 dollars, although we see that in Hungary or Slovakia it costs 18 dollars. This is the difference that is being sawed at our energy facilities under the guise of cost,” explains the expert.

According to him, if you calculate the cost of electricity in Hungary or Slovakia, add transmission and distribution, you get 2.8 UAH per 1 kWh, which the population pays. At the same time, the expert directly called Rinat Akhmetov the person who controls the Ukrainian energy sector.

The law of conservation of energy - why Ukrainians sit for hours without light, and how you can make money on it

A rather strange question is why Ukrainians do not have enough electricity, and they are forced to live on a “2 by 2” schedule, that is, 2 hours with electricity and two without, and this is if they are very lucky. It would seem that the answer is obvious - because Russian missile attacks are carried out on energy facilities.

But at the same time, the most massive attack on the Ukrainian energy sector this year occurred on March 22, when power plants from Kharkov to Lvov were destroyed or disabled. On April 11, the largest thermal power plant in the Kyiv region, Tripilska, was destroyed. However, power outages began only a month later - in mid-May, that is, there was electricity for a month even after missile attacks on the thermal power plant, and then it suddenly ended?

Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Romanenko on his Facebook page wonders why “green energy” does not improve the situation.

“Where did green energy come from, which, in theory, during the day could cover a significant part of Ukraine’s needs? Everything is clear at night, but at least during the day, SEZs can generate (here I am deliberately underestimating) 4000-5000 Megawatts, which is equal to half the capacity of the knocked out shunting energy. However, during the day the restrictions are the same as in the evening. Why? By the way, if the government provides preferential import of storage devices, then you can get gigawatts of capacity that can be used in the evening in conjunction with solar stations,” the journalist writes.

And it just so happens that the largest investor in green energy is again Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK.

It looks as mysterious as the answer to the question - if a thermal power plant works and produces electricity, then where does it go? If electricity is not supplied to consumers for several hours in a row, does this mean that the thermal power plant is not working? Of course not, because no equipment can withstand switching on and off of all the station’s equipment several times a day for long, which means it works, produces energy, it just doesn’t reach the population.

There are only two options for where this “extra” energy can go – either for export or for the needs of enterprises, and best of all, our own.

According to official data, in 2023 Ukraine exported 366.5 thousand. MWh, which is 7 times less than in 2022. Moreover, for comparison, in March 2024 alone, exports amounted to almost half of this volume - 154.1 thousand MW/h, and it really collapsed only in April - to 12 thousand MW.

Is this a lot - 154 thousand MW/h?

According to estimates by analysts of the Energy Map portal, the export of 366.5 thousand MWh for the entire year 2023 brought about $100 million, that is, in March alone, electricity exporters could earn just under $50 million. It can be assumed that the manufacturer, who does not want to lose that kind of money, will prefer to leave household consumers without electricity.

Another way is to provide electricity to our own industrial enterprises, fortunately their consumption is falling, and the possibilities of its production, although falling, are still higher than needs. Thus, according to the Ministry of Energy, in January 2024, the entire industry of Ukraine consumed 2.4 million kWh.

For comparison, according to BusinessCensor, the three largest enterprises of Rinat Akhmetov’s empire – the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, Azovstal and Pavlogradugol – consumed up to 2.5 million kW/h per year in 2019 (200 thousand kW/h per month) , the rest are much less. After the loss of the Ilyich and Azovstal iron and steel plants, the energy consumption of Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM enterprises fell sharply, for example, the same Pavlogradugol previously used up to 0.5 million kW/h per year or 40 thousand kW/h per month, and the metallurgical plants Mariupol is each twice as large.

What about production? According to DTEK Energy, by the beginning of 2024, they produced an average of 1.3 to 1.5 million kWh per month, that is, quite enough for the needs of the industrial empire of the richest Ukrainian. Of course, with the start of Russian missile attacks, production capabilities clearly fell, but household consumers also began to receive much less electricity.

There is no threat of nationalization - why doesn’t the state interfere with Akhmetov in his energy games or is this a “cold world”?

A separate conversation is the participation of the state in schemes on the energy market, from which the richest Ukrainian and his DTEK can get the greatest benefit. And here the influence of government agencies seems almost invisible, except for raising the tariff to increase the profits of electricity sellers.

It would seem that in times of war, energy becomes a particularly critically important industry, especially during constant targeted attacks on it. However, the state does not make decisions that seem absolutely logical - the nationalization of enterprises, even those owned by Russian politicians and criminal authorities. And in the case of Rinat Akhmetov, the president has a difficult experience, allegedly involving a businessman in the preparation of a coup in the fall of 2021.

However, experts have no doubt that such a step is necessary.

Thus, managing partner of the National Anti-Crisis Group, economic and political expert Taras Zagorodniy is confident that if the state spends money on repairing power plants, then they should be state-owned.

Expert at the Ukrainian Thought Factory Yuriy Gavrilechko even suggests putting the question differently, in particular, not so that “the state can take up the nationalization of DTEK,” but so that “the state should have done this a long time ago.”

Director of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics Ruslan Bortnik believes that Rinat Akhmetov’s influence in the economy is too great, if not for its complete “destruction,” then for its serious “reduction.” But the main thing is that de facto, this is impossible.

“Rinat Akhmetov actively “went” to the West, his lobbyists are represented at different levels in the USA, the EU and it is difficult to fight him. He takes a patriotic position. Finally, he has abandoned political ambitions and does not explicitly support any political projects. That is, there are fewer reasons to fight him, he has the support of some Western partners and influence within the country,” says the expert about the reasons for Rinat Akhmetov maintaining his position.

At the same time, Ruslan Bortnik clarifies that one cannot talk about Rinat Akhmetov’s special “closeness” to the president, in which he is clearly inferior to Viktor Pinchuk. Rather, it is a kind of “cold peace” or “peace of convenience,” but not friendship or closer relationships.

The founder of the public organization “Union of Consumers of Utilities of Ukraine” Oleg Popenko sees the situation somewhat more complexly, according to whom the role of DTEK cannot be denied. Even having suffered large losses of generation, and DTEK lost 90% of thermal generation, it remains the largest investor in solar power plants and wind farms, which own more than 50% of oblenergos in Ukraine and are the largest player in the Ukrainian energy market.

“Increasing electricity tariffs for the population will help improve payments for green electricity, and there are debts of about 25 billion hryvnia, and most of this amount is for the DTEK group, which will benefit them.

Nationalization has two sides - on the one hand, it is the presence of a certain monopoly, and on the other, the government has shown itself to be not the best manager in the energy sector,” emphasized Oleg Popenko.