Friday, December 12, 2008

They've turned off hot water in a number of Kyiv's districts, and although Besarabka isn't mentioned in this Korrespondent.net piece (RUS) about the emergency, we are without hot water, too. In mid-December, it sucks a lot more than it does in summer. Mama called ZhEK to ask what happened, and they said they didn't know exactly themselves yet. According to them, there's no hot water in all the buildings on Khreshchatyk and Lyuteranska, and, possibly, on other streets around here as well. According to the article, the problem is between Kyiv City Council, KyivEnergo and Gas of Ukraine: the first one owes something to the second, and the second owes something to the third. Why we still don't have a water heater at our place is beyond me, really.

Update: No hot water still.

No hot water on Zhmachenko St. either, which is in Darnytsya, Left Bank. At their ZhEK, unlike here at Besarabka, they do know that the water has been turned off because of the money owed for gas - and they aren't too shy about saying it to the residents.

At Raduzhnaya, which is also Left Bank, not far from Zhmachenko, hot water is still there, somehow.

What's most annoying about the system here is that even if you personally are totally diligent in paying all the utilities bills, someone else isn't, and when they punish this someone else, they punish you as well.

8 comments:

  1. Well, I think the problem is not that someone's not paying, but that the city used the money you paid in some other way rather than transfering it to the gas company. Fuck Chernovetsky. Those who voted for him shouldn't be complaining.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, fuck Chernovetsky. Also, fuck Lutsenko and Turchynov, who have given Chernovetsky a few extra years as Kyiv's mayor. One can easily spend a few days sending 'fuck you' notes to our politicians - and that's as pointless as voting or not voting for any of them: the result is we all get our hot water turned off suddenly in mid-December, even if we pay our bills and vote for Klichko.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is absolutely incomprehensible to most people that in the entire Naftohaz Ukraine - RosUkrnhergo - Gazprom dispute, there is no bloody agreement on how much is owed, or who is to be paid. $2.4 billion? $1.2 billion? Naftohaz owes Gazprom? Naftohas actually owes to intermediary RUE?
    Only in the most recent days has Naftohaz been saying that they owe Gazprom money. If so, what happened to RUE? They exist, and were created by Gazprom and Firtash to act as the middle man.
    Bloody mess. And where is Yulia's gas deal with Putin, dead in the water?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry if this sounds dumb, but I'm in the middle of trying to take a shower, which takes at least four kettles of boiling water, so I'm running back and forth and can't think clearly. Anyway. What does "the entire Naftohaz Ukraine - RosUkrnhergo - Gazprom dispute" have to do with the Kyiv City Council - KyivEnergo - Gas of Ukraine dispute? Where and how do their paths cross? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, the Kosmonaut wants to pull a Robin Hood - raise rents for "elite" dwellings, so "poor people" don't have to pay anything for utility bills.

    http://www.kyivpost.com/city/31787

    "In October 2007, the department fixed the tariffs depending on condition of and services provided for the houses at the level of UAH 1-14 per square meter.

    In February 2007, the municipal administration raised the rents by 1.8-2 times as of December 2006.

    The rent is UAH 1.1 per square meter for houses with over 12 floors; UAH 1.05 for houses up to 12 floors and UAH 0.86 for houses without lifts."


    I rather got a kick out of the comments posted on this matter on Ukrainian Pravda.

    Chernovetsky's is a rather odd way of doing business.

    One wonders why heat is provided on a centralized basis. One wonders why the buildings doesn't each have its own hot water equipment.

    In other cities, if the landlord fails to provide necessary services, various remedies are available.

    Very, very odd.

    And extremely inconvenient.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well, there has been some suggestion that there ought to be pre-term (snap) elections for mayor in Kyiv.

    Here's another comment of a reader of Ukrainian Pravda:

    Я, як киянин, прошу: не треба нових виборів у Києві! Хай кияни вже так нажеруться гречкою, щоб із вух повилазило!

    "I, as a Kyivite, make the following request: we don't need snap elections in Kyiv! May Kyivites stuff themselves with buckwheat, so that it comes out of their ears."

    This, of course, refers to the Kosmonaut Mayor Chernovetsky's form of payment for votes - little packages of buckwheat and tins of stale tea, and perhaps a little money, by which he got himself elected mayor.

    The message is clear, of course: you sold your votes, now live with what you bought for mayor.


    A corrupt, moronic, stupid space cadet, complete with sidekicks like Kilchytska and Dovhy, his little butt-boy.

    As ye shall sow, so shall ye reap.

    Of course, not everybody voted for the thug, but enough people sold their votes to lead to this - no hot water or heat (in some parts) in Kyiv.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chernovetsky thinks that cutting of the heat and hot water is a joke.

    This is what he said:

    http://www.kyivpost.com/city/31907

    Besides, the Mayor joked that disconnection of hot water supply did not influence him on Friday morning.

    "I have had a habit of having a five-minute ice-cold shower for twenty years," he said.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My apologies! Upon further investigation of the incident, I have realized that what's going on Kyiv is not related to the Kyiv/Moscow dispute. My mistake.
    So we have two separate disputes instead of one. Sheesh. Life's never boring in Kyiv...

    ReplyDelete