Spending on energy represents a growing share of SME costs in Ukraine, a round table on energy efficiency and SMEs heard in Kyiv on 5 July.
Poor energy efficiency and energy saving measures is costing SMEs dear when it comes to their competitiveness on the international stage, several speakers told the event, “Energy Efficiency and SMEs: New Regulation – New Opportunities”, at the IQ Business Centre.
Quality of national regulations
The round table, organised under the EU4Business Forbiz project, was used to discuss an analysis of Ukraine’s energy sector regulations for SMEs by the country’s Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO).
Oleksiy Orzhel, head of the BRDO’s energy sector, presented the analysis’ main findings, which were:
- 30% of regulations governing energy efficiency in SMEs in Ukraine are either unlawful or irrelevant
- Due to the complexity of the issue, 86% of regulations fail
- Energy efficiency of SMEs does not appear to be a government’s priority
- Low energy efficiency undermines international competitiveness of SME products
- Existing energy efficiency schemes contain strategic drawbacks when applied to SMEs.
SMEs to switch focus - government
Kseniya Lyapina, head of the State Regulatory Service, said she expected the interest of SMEs and industry associations to shift soon, from lobbying for less taxes and a softer regulatory regime, towards energy efficiency and energy saving measures, since energy costs constituted a significant and growing share of their expenses and the situation was likely to persist.