Place of forensic commodity expertise in the prevention of offenses in the retail electricity market

 The article emphasizes that the threatening dynamics of the annual increase in the facts of damage and theft of energy equipment, theft of electrical energy, spontaneous connection to electrical grids can lead to imbalance anddestruction of the electrical industry not only in a separate region, but also in the country as a whole. Attention is drawn to the fact that regulatory legal acts are aimed at curbing this dangerous dynamic, that carry out state regulation in the energy sector which, unfortunately, do not ensure stable security in this area.  It is stated that specialists from different suppliers of electric energy prepare all the necessary materials to open criminal proceedings under Article 1881 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, submit petitions to the investigating authorities about the need to carry out certain investigative actions, however, violators are not prosecuted. It was found that the main obstacle in bringing the perpetrators of these violations to criminal responsibility is the lack of methodological materials and skills in the police units in the investigation of criminal proceedings on the facts of theft of electrical energy and the practice of their consideration by courts. It has been proved that the lack of methodological materials with a complete list of initial data that are necessary to determine the market price of products of the energy complex leads to discrepancies in conclusions of experts. New methods for determining the market price of energy products during forensic commodity examinations will help to resolve the issue of assessing the products of the energy complex in expert practice. It is proposed to determine the subject, tasks, object of research of this forensic examination; outline possible approaches and methods for assessing their value; establish the assortment of goods that has formed in this market in the world and in Ukraine; clearly identify the boundaries of competence of commodity experts. It is emphasized that the determination of the market price for electricity and the cost of services for its provision goes beyond the competence of commodity experts, since the mechanism for setting prices (tariffs) for this type of product is controlled by the state and approved by the Regulator – National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission.