Katja • Gas for heating used to be very cheap in Ukraine. I have all my receipts from recent years to show how the price has gone up and up and up.
Some years ago, we paid 24 kopiykas (UAH 0.24) per cubic meter (/m3), then around 40 kopiykas (UAH 0.40). That came to about UAH 2 500 per year (USD 95). Later the price rose to UAH 1.05/m3 – and then, on 1 April 2015, it jumped overnight to UAH 7.20 UAH/m3 (USD 0.27).
In December 2015, our gas bill was UAH 1 400 and electricity was UAH 380. My pension is only UAH 1 900. There's nothing left to live on.
* UAH = Ukrainian hryvnia / UAH 1.00 = USD 0.04