SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE COUNTRY’S NATIONAL ENERGY SPHERE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Introduction. The issue of consumer protection during electricity market reforming becomes of special urgency and requires the appropriate instrumentarium that would meet the aquis communautaire criteria as for providing information, contractual obligations and quality of services in the electricity market of Ukraine. Purpose. of the article is to expand approaches to the definition of the category of vulnerable consumer; as a factor of effective reform of the countries energy sector in accordance with the standards and norms of European legislation. Methods. During the research the following methods were used: economic and statistical (for analysis of the current state of Ukrainian households’ income and expenditures); statistical (for a complex diagnosis of the current welfare population in Ukraine and the welfare of population in European countries; the cost and volume of electricity, affecting the socio-economic development of the country). Results. The work analyzes the households’ indicators on the level of material welfare as a factor reflecting the state of socio-economic development of the country and the provision of the population with tangible and intangible benefits. The world experience of existing mechanisms of consumer rights protection in the liberalized electricity market has been analysed. Discussion. It is proved that the minimum consumption tariffs make the price structure non-transparent and have the direct interrelationship with the effect of cross-subsidiziation, which can lead to incorrect price signals for consumers and investors from energy suppliers. Considering this an important point in the rules of social protection is the absence of administrative interference in the natural mechanisms of the energy market. It is emphasized that it is the consumer’s awareness of his rights, duties and the market data which lays the foundation for successful reformation and functioning of the electricity market and is the basis for ensuring energy efficiency and the economical use of energy resources.