Utility bills may nearly double: Mykolaiv residents told the new amounts

In Mykolaiv, three municipal enterprises that maintain apartment buildings have said that the cost of their services needs to be reviewed. ZhKP “Bryz,” “Prybuzhzhia,” and “Zoria” believe that current rates are insufficient to cover the costs of maintaining the housing stock. During the discussion, around 8 hryvnias per square meter was cited as a benchmark, and in some cases even 9–10 hryvnias.

The issue was considered on October 27, 2026, at a meeting of the Mykolaiv City Council’s standing committee on housing and utilities. The heads of the enterprises explained why their current revenues were insufficient, while council members discussed the possibility of increasing housing maintenance fees starting in 2027. At the same time, the committee made no decision to automatically raise the rates. A review of service costs requires meetings of the co-owners of each building, where residents themselves must decide whether they agree to pay more. The meeting also revealed the total amount residents owe the three enterprises: around 25 million hryvnias.

The greatest attention was given to the situation at ZhKP “Bryz”. Council member Yevhenii Prudnyk of the “For a Healthy City” council group drew attention to the enterprise’s sharp drop in revenue: it fell from 29 million hryvnias in 2023 to 14 million hryvnias in 2024.

The director of ZhKP “Bryz,” Artur Hezalian, explained that the enterprise’s financial situation had been affected by the expansion of the housing stock it was assigned to maintain. In particular, in 2024, a dormitory and more than 300 so-called “unprofitable” properties—communal housing buildings—were added to its books. According to the director, maintaining them required considerable expenditure, while residents paid virtually none of the housing maintenance fees set for them.

Artur Hezalian described the problems the enterprise faced after taking on these buildings:

“In 2022, we won a tender for buildings where no service contracts had been signed with anyone. We spent a lot of money maintaining them. Then, in 2024, we won a tender for more than 300 ‘unprofitable’ properties. These are communal housing buildings. We set their rate at one hryvnia per square meter. People didn’t pay it, but we still incurred huge costs maintaining the buildings, including even the minimum preparations for the heating season.”

The director also cited some residents switching to associations of co-owners of apartment buildings (OSBBs) as another reason for the drop in revenue.

Yevhenii Prudnyk suggested that, given its financial situation, the municipal enterprise could be on the verge of bankruptcy. Artur Hezalian replied that it was too early to talk about bankruptcy, but that, in his view, the rate needed to be brought in line with actual costs. The current average rate at ZhKP “Bryz” is 4.72 hryvnias per square meter. The enterprise’s director believes that the minimum justified rate should be 8 hryvnias for buildings with many floors and elevators, and around 7 hryvnias for five-story buildings. If residents want the rate to include money set aside for future work, it would need to be even higher.

Artur Hezalian explained that the enterprise was feeling the impact of rising fuel, materials, and logistics costs:

“First and foremost, one of our biggest tasks today is to bring the rate in line with the actual cost. Our average rate is 4.72 hryvnias. A more or less justified minimum rate is eight hryvnias. That’s for buildings with many floors and elevators. For five-story buildings, the average justified rate is around seven hryvnias. If people also want to set aside money for future work, the rate will need to be set even higher. Unfortunately, this is the reality today, with gasoline at 100 hryvnias. And further price increases will lead to a collapse. Logistics eats up everything: materials, resources.”

According to the director of “Bryz,” the rate was last reviewed in 2021. In 2024, it was raised by around 50 kopecks due to higher electricity prices and increased costs of powering elevators.

Ihor Nabatov, First Deputy Director of the Department of Municipal Services, confirmed that the municipal enterprises receive no subsidies from the city budget. He agreed that the current average housing maintenance fee—around 4–5 hryvnias per square meter—does not cover necessary expenses. According to him, the national average is around 8 hryvnias, but this amount covers only the most urgent needs and minimal routine repairs.

Ihor Nabatov explained what such an indicative rate might cover:

“The average housing maintenance fee across Ukraine today is around eight hryvnias. That’s the national average, although some cities have much higher rates and others much lower ones. In general, as was rightly noted, eight hryvnias per square meter is a benchmark, but it covers only the most urgent needs and the minimum costs of routine repairs.”

A similar situation has arisen at ZhKP “Prybuzhzhia”. The enterprise’s director, Nadiia Patsula, explained that she attributed its losses in 2025 to the large volume of routine repairs carried out. The enterprise expects to make up for these losses over time. According to the director, residents can see the work completed, including repairs to stairwells and roofs, as well as improvements to the areas around buildings. At the same time, due to rising material and logistics costs, the enterprise also plans to initiate a review of housing maintenance fees.

Nadiia Patsula outlined the enterprise’s position on a possible increase:

“People generally understand that rates need to go up. They can see how we work and how we try to carry out routine repairs, improve the areas around buildings, and repair stairwells and roofs. We’re also planning to raise the rate because the cost of materials, logistics, and everything else has gone up.”

ZhKP “Zoria” also said its rate needed to be increased. According to information shared at the meeting, the enterprise made a profit last year, but accumulated nearly 800,000 hryvnias in losses during the first 9 months of 2026. Its current average rate is 4.32 hryvnias per square meter. The director of ZhKP “Zoria,” Oleksii Hushovskyi, believes that the cost of services for the buildings maintained by the enterprise should be significantly higher—between 9 and 10 hryvnias per square meter. The head of “Zoria” also confirmed plans to hold residents’ meetings to consider introducing a new service rate starting in 2027.

During the general discussion, Ihor Nabatov emphasized that a rate can only be changed by a decision of the co-owners of a particular apartment building. In other words, municipal enterprises cannot simply announce a new price for all buildings—the matter must be considered at the relevant meetings.

Yevhenii Prudnyk noted that residents are unlikely to welcome higher monthly payments, but, according to meeting participants, current rates no longer cover the costs of maintaining housing. If the municipal enterprises continue to operate at a loss, this could eventually affect the city budget as well, the council member said.

Iryna Boichenko of the “Women for Peace” council group proposed not putting off meetings with residents and holding them before the end of this year. This would make it possible, she said, to consider changing the rates starting in 2027.

The committee members wanted the heads of the three enterprises to report back to council members on the results of their discussions with residents. However, the committee was unable to recommend raising the rates because it did not have enough votes.

The meeting began at 19:00 and lasted around three hours. Because the online discussion ran so long, some committee members eventually stopped participating.

For now, then, the municipal enterprises have only expressed their intention to review housing maintenance fees and hold meetings of co-owners. The residents themselves must make the final decision on the cost of maintaining their buildings. The proposed amounts vary depending on the enterprise and the characteristics of the building, ranging from around 7–8 hryvnias to 9–10 hryvnias per square meter.

We previously reported:

• Repairs have been postponed for years as debts pile up: Mykolaiv discusses fees of 12 UAH per m² and up
• “Two weeks ago they said 4 hryvnias was a fair price”: Mykolaiv housing maintenance company directors are being forced to raise rates
• New rates for housing maintenance and garbage collection prepared for Mykolaiv residents
• Residents of the Korabelnyi District owe two housing maintenance companies around 3 million hryvnias
• “City for People” is making life miserable for Korabelnyi residents, while the authorities throw up their hands: “Sort it out yourselves”