Mykolaiv region is among the top three regions with the highest number of new utility arrears
Utility debts are rising: more than 108,000 proceedings opened in Ukraine in six months
During the first half of 2026, 108,561 new enforcement proceedings related to utility debt were added to the Unified Debtors Register. This was reported on 3 August, 2026 by the Opendatabot service.
Of the proceedings opened this year, 70,206, or about 65%, remain open and unpaid. They account for approximately 9% of all utility debts currently listed in the register.
As of early July 2026, the Unified Debtors Register contained 829,768 proceedings for nonpayment of utility services. Almost 62% of them are marked as completed, but that does not mean the debt has been repaid. Enforcement officers may close proceedings due to inability to collect or for other reasons, while the debt record remains in the register.
The most new proceedings this year were opened in Kharkiv Oblast — 22,171, which is 20% of the total. In second place was Dnipropetrovsk Oblast — 19,636 proceedings, or 18%.
Mykolaiv Oblast ranked third: the region opened 12,841 proceedings over six months, about 12% of all new utility debts in Ukraine.
Ukrainians most often owe for heating — accounting for 46,186 proceedings, or 42.5%. Next are water supply — 19,416 proceedings, housing maintenance — 12,648, gas supply — 11,538, electricity supply — 9,947, and waste removal — 7,020.
The largest share of new debts falls on people aged 46 to 60 — 35.1%. Another 25.5% of proceedings were opened against people over 60, and 24% — against Ukrainians aged 36 to 45.
Women accounted for 60,141 new proceedings. The highest number of debts opened against one person in 2026 was recorded for a female resident of Mykolaiv Oblast born in 1952. 15 proceedings were opened against her for energy supply debt. Five of them have already been closed, but the records still remain in the register.
Some unpaid debts have been listed in the register for more than nine years. Among the oldest open proceedings are a resident of Chernihiv Oblast’s debt for heating and a resident of Lviv Oblast’s debt for water supply and sewage.
