Arakhamiia on the «Soviet» heat supply in Mykolaiv: «We need to hand over the CHP to the city»

The head of the «Servant of the People» faction, David Arakhamiia, stated the need to transfer the Mykolayiv CHP to city ownership in order to modernize heat supply and lower tariffs for the population.

He expressed this position in a comment to the NikVesti correspondent during the Ukraine Recovery Conference on June 11 in Berlin.

He emphasized that in the current heating season, it is impractical to make major changes, because the main task now is to ensure a stable supply of electricity. But as early as next year, according to Arakhamiia, it is necessary to conclude a concession agreement with NJSC «Naftogaz of Ukraine» or to create a joint venture for the management of the thermal power plant.

The head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, David Arakhamiia, at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, June 11, 2024, photo NikVesti

According to him, the current heat supply infrastructure in Mykolaiv was built in Soviet times and is suboptimal, which leads to high tariffs for consumers.

«Now in the heating season, there is nothing so big, nothing to change. Now the main goal is to have at least some kind of electricity. We understand the complexity of the situation. But for next year, it is definitely necessary to take, or have some kind of contract, a concession contract with NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine to take it to the city, or together with NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine to make some kind of joint venture (joint enterprise, note) and work together to finalize the cogeneration plant system, because now the heat supply infrastructure itself is built suboptimal in Soviet times, and therefore the tariff will always be high,» said David Arakhamiia.

Earlier, Mykolaiv City Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych reported to Oleksii Chernyshov, Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine, how the city is preparing for the start of the heating season.

It is worth noting that Oleksii Chernyshov, in a comment to NikVesti, promised to monitor that Mykolaiv CHP was ready for the heating season this year.

How Mykolaiv CHP failed the heating season in 2023

Excavation of Mykolaiv thermal power plant in the center of Mykolaiv, photo from the archive of NikVesti, September 2023.

The 2023-24 heating season in Mykolaiv began on November 14, but Mykolaiv CHP was able to provide heat to residents only at the beginning of December due to numerous accidents on heating networks. The mayor of Mykolaiv Oleksandr Sienkevych believes that the problems with starting the heat will only get worse in the coming years.

After the disruption of the heating season and statements by the Mykolayiv RMA about the need for personnel decisions, the CHP began an official investigation to find the culprits.

As of the evening of November 18, 2023, Mykolaiv CHP connected only half of the total number of its consumers in Mykolaiv to heat. At the same time, in September, the CHP reported that it was 92% ready for the start of the heating season.

Excavation of the CHP plant in the center of Mykolaiv, photo from the archive of NikVesti, November 2023

As of the evening of November 20 , dozens of apartment buildings remained without heating in Mykolaiv. In several districts of the city, repair works of heating networks continued. Then the first deputy of Mykolaiv city mayor Vitalii Lukov announced that they plan to connect all residential buildings of Mykolaiv to heat in a few days.

However, on the evening of November 21 , there were still more than 400 apartment buildings in the city without heating. Mykolaiv CHPP said that delays in the supply of heat to multi-apartment buildings occurred due to large gusts on the main pipelines of the heating lines.

On November 30, the CHP reported that due to emergency works in three more areas of the city, residents will be left without heating again for some time. However, the company immediately announced the good news — according to forecasters, the weather conditions in Mykolaiv are expected to improve.

Numerous gusts of CHP networks are connected, in particular, with the fact that last heating season the enterprise used salty water from the estuary, which accelerates the corrosion of already outdated pipes. In contrast to this, purified water from wells was poured into «Mykolaivvoblteploenergo», which NikVesti wrote in the article «Winter is near: What will the heating season be like in Mykolaiv?». Thus, the start of both heating seasons began without disruptions and significant accidents in the houses served by the regional heat and power utility.

At the same time, the Mykolaiv thermal power station reported that during the 2023/2024 heating season, water from the estuary will be poured in only in emergency cases. Thus, the company's networks are filled with salt water by 8%, while last year the systems were filled with estuarine water by 91%.

The section of Mariupolska Street where the CHP refuses to repair the asphalt, photo NikVesti, March 2024

For six months now, Mykolaiv CHPP has not been bringing Mariupolska (Moskovska) Street (from Tsentralnyi Avenue to Chkalova street, where repair work was carried out on heating networks last fall. In Mykolaiv CHPP, they say that it makes no sense to asphalt the excavated sections of the road along Mariupolska Street at the moment, because after several The section of the network from Dunaieva Street to Sevastopolska Street will be partially replaced.

We will remind you that the director of the Mykolaiv Thermal Power Plant (TPP) Dmytro Myroshnychenko submitted a declaration on property and income for 2023. During the year, the official earned 2 million 143 thousand 897 hryvnias. On average, the salary of an official was 178 thousand hryvnias per month (about 4.5 thousand US dollars).

In addition, the Mykolaiv District Administrative Court will consider the case based on the lawsuit filed by the journalist of the online media NikVesti against the Mykolaiv Thermal Power Plant (TPP), which refused to provide information about the salaries of the management during 2023.