Will scheduled power outages return in Ukraine? What do power engineers say

Next week, Ukraine is expected to see a drop in air temperature, which could lead to an increase in electricity consumption. Despite this, Ukrenergo does not plan to introduce schedules for hourly power outages.

This was reported by Ukrenergo after Volodymyr Velychko, a member of the Supervisory Board of Centrenergo, suggested the return of hourly power outages. The company assured that together with the Ministry of Energy, regional military administrations, and energy companies, they are doing everything possible to prevent the application of consumption restrictions.

"The drop in air temperature at the beginning of next week is indeed predictable and will lead to an increase in energy consumption. However, only NPC Ukrenergo can predict whether it will be necessary to apply blackouts (in particular, for household consumers), as it has not yet provided any forecasts on the application of restrictive measures," the company said.

Earlier in the day, Volodymyr Velychko, a member of Centrenergo's supervisory board, told Interfax-Ukraine that the power company would start cutting off power again. He explained that due to the drop in atmospheric temperature, Ukrenergo may not have enough of its own power to balance the power system.

"Starting next week, forecasters predict a significant drop in temperature. For power engineers, this means that more significant measures will need to be taken to balance the power system, such as emergency assistance from operators in neighboring countries. However, before using emergency assistance, it is necessary to maximize the use of own resources. If NPC Ukrenergo fails to maintain the balance of the power system, we will apply blackout schedules," explained Velychko.

According to him, after the daily average temperature dropped in October, the power system is already seeing a significant increase in consumption. The fact that Ukrainians have started using electricity more is evidenced by the shift of the peak load from 20:00 to 19:10.

Temperatures are also dropping in European countries, so consumption is also increasing, and so are electricity prices. The shorter daylight hours are reducing the share of renewable energy sources. This may affect the possibility of commercial imports of electricity due to price caps on the Ukrainian spot market.

"Currently, the energy regulator NKREKP has started the procedure of revising price caps upwards, which is supported by the majority of energy market participants, and some even propose to cancel them. This is a painful topic for consumers, but it is important to understand that without an increase in price caps, commercial electricity imports will be unavailable, especially during periods of severe cold weather. Emergency assistance will be much more expensive," said a member of the Supervisory Board of Centrenergo.

However, the company distanced itself from his statements and called Volodymyr Velychko's words "his personal opinion" which does not reflect the position of the organization. Andrii Hota, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the company, and CEO Yevhen Harkavyi emphasized that the determination of emergency shutdown schedules is the competence of Ukrenergo alone.

"Centrenergo's legal service is currently considering the possibility of appealing to law enforcement agencies to check the purpose and circumstances that led to the publication of false information during the active phase of the autumn-winter period. The situation in the power system is stable," the company warned.

OBOZ.UA also reported that from December 1, the maximum capacity of electricity imports from the EU to Ukraine will increase to 2.1 GW, which will ensure the stability of the energy supply during the winter. An additional 250 MW of emergency assistance from the EU will guarantee prompt support in case of critical needs.

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