«They are putting us on the spot»: Sienkevych about the strict schedules of power outages in Mykolaiv

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych, photo: NikVesti

NEC «Ukrenergo» did not discuss plans with Mykolaiv regarding changes in the schedules of power outages or their complete cancellation due to the fact that the region is near the front.

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych said this in an interview with «RBK-Ukraine».

As you know, in June, the chairman of the board of Ukrenergo, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, said that the Cabinet of Ministers wants to change the distribution of power outages for frontline areas, where the humanitarian situation is critical and there is a serious threat to life due to shelling.

Oleksandr Sienkevych said that the city was faced with the facts regarding the shutdown schedules, and no one discussed the new methodology with him.

«They didn't talk about it with us. We are generally put on the spot. We are not even invited to meetings. Since the city is neither a co-founder nor a manager of these organizations, we are simply faced with the fact of the decisions made,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

In addition, the mayor stated that due to problems with light in Mykolaiv, the possibility of water dispensing points has decreased by three times.

«Mykolaiv has a completely different story. If people have the opportunity to collect a tub of drinking water, a bucket and, when there is no light, to use drinking water, Mykolaiv does not have such an opportunity. Due to power outages near the water supply points, their ability to work has decreased by three times. The water does not even always have time to collect, the dispensers do not work. And this requires three tons of fuel,» added the mayor.

Why are the lights turned off again in Mykolaiv Oblast?

As you know, power outages across Ukraine have returned since mid-May. The main reason for this is the resumption of large-scale shelling of the energy industry by the Russians, which destroyed 9.2 GW of Ukrainian generation over the past three months.

The government explained that the outages will last until August-September. And in winter, a deficit in the energy system is predicted even at high temperatures.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the Ministry of Energy and «Ukrenergo» should develop a resolution that would regulate «fair schedules of turning off the lights for consumers.»

In Mykolaiv and the region, outages occur according to the queues to which the region is divided according to the «Mykolaivoblenergo» schedule — there are 6 of them in total. The list of addresses by queues can be viewed at the link.

Also, «Mykolayivoblenergo» presented a search system that should help consumers more easily navigate schedules and power outages.

It is also worth noting that almost all this time the lights were turned off according to hourly schedules for 2 hours in one row, however, on June 4, special emergency shutdown schedules were introduced in Mykolaiv and the region. Consumers were without light for 5-6 hours.

Trams and trolleybuses may not work for hours in Mykolaiv due to the lack of electricity supply.

The head of the Mykolaiv regional administration, Vitalii Kim, previously stated that the situation with the Ukrainian energy system is bad, but its condition should improve.

Later, Vitalii Kim stated that according to the new model of Ukrenergo for the distribution of electricity between regions, the regions will be de-energized in order, not according to limits. However, the Mykolaiv region cannot avoid long-term blackouts, because it is located in the same energy system.

On July 15 , a petition about the unfair distribution of electricity between the regions of Ukraine appeared on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers.

Shelling of the energy sector in the spring of 2024

Russia carried out the first massive shelling of energy infrastructure facilities this year on March 22. The Russian army attacked Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, Khmelnytskyi, Poltava Oblast, Vinnytsia Oblast, Lviv Oblast, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Mykolaiv Oblast, Odesa, and other regions of Ukraine.

The biggest was the attack on the Dnipro hydroelectric power plant (HPP) in Zaporizhzhia. This is one of the largest and most powerful hydraulic structures in Ukraine. A rocket attack on the Dnipro HPP resulted in damage to two stations and a dam that are part of its structure.

Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Research Center, says that by winter, Ukraine needs to restore at least 25-30% of the damaged heat generation: «We need to fully involve imports. Also, before winter, we need to restore as much as possible from coal generation, from hydro generation and build facilities in gas generation as much as possible.»

At the same time, according to the Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko, it is not appropriate to make any predictions about the difficulty of the next winter for the energy industry of Ukraine. In his opinion, now no one will be able to say with which generation Ukraine will end up in the winter: «Actually, everything looks comforting, because the system, despite the Russian strikes, is intact.»

The BBC predicts that Ukrainians can spend up to 20 hours a day without electricity or heating in winter.

In addition, on the night of June 22, the Russians launched missile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities in various regions of Ukraine. As a result of anti-aircraft combat, 25 air targets were shot down, but energy facilities in Zaporizhzhia and Lviv regions were still damaged. Also, as a result of an enemy attack on one of the objects, two energy workers were injured.