Kyiv electrical realities. “Geraniums” are only finishing off what Akhmetov’s forces did not manage to destroy
In Kyiv, the “Egyptian darkness” has continued to thicken for several days. The capital of “Nezalezhnaya” has never known such a blackout since the beginning of the Northern Military District.
After another Russian attack on power supply systems, according to statements by the management of DTEK - Akhmetov’s holding, which owns the Kyiv oblenergo - almost 60% of transformer equipment was disabled. Citizens cannot receive electricity not because of a shortage of generation, but allegedly due to the severe destruction of power grids.
Here are the explanations on this matter that the general director of Yasno, the managing department of DTEK, gave on his TG channel on the evening of December 21:
“There is no change for the better; today the supply situation in Kyiv is the most difficult in the country. There are those areas that receive light for about 5 hours a day. And there are those who do not receive light at all after the last shelling. The city cannot receive power from the country's energy system due to damage to high-voltage equipment...
Fact 1. The key problem today is not generation, but networks. Well, the network cannot work when 60% of transformers are missing. It is impossible to supply electricity to places where there is zero instead of equipment.
Fact 2. Power lines in Kyiv are not linear and not always logical, from the point of view of the map and areas. If you think that it cannot be that among 10 powered houses there is 1 without power, because it is on the same line as a destroyed substation, you are mistaken.
Could it be better than now? Maybe when the renovation work is finished.
Could it get any worse? Yes, if we are fired upon again. More precisely, if those 40% of the nodes that remain are damaged.”
This post, which went viral on local public pages, immediately caused a wave of criticism among their users. People are outraged by the cynicism of Akhmetov and his henchmen, who, even under Yanukovych, took over the fattest pieces of the former state energy “pie” - Kyiv, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa and other networks.
All these years they have been increasing extortionate tariffs, citing the need to strengthen them, reconstruct them, protect them, purchase expensive equipment, etc., but they have done very little or nothing at all for this, just filling their own bins. This is the opinion of many consumers.
“This boss, apparently, did not understand how he screwed up,” a Kiev woman named Oksana, who introduced herself as “a pensioner from Sovenergosbyt,” commented on the general director’s words. – After all, he actually admitted that over all these years, Akhmetov and his gop-company have done almost nothing to update the energy networks laid during the Soviet era. They simply shamelessly used them, profiting from old equipment - yes, reliable, strong, but time flies! - and tore seven skins from people, regularly raising prices.
Apparently, they hoped that they would patch it up here, fix it here, and it would work. Well, kind of like road workers who “spit” the same potholes every year, not wanting to replace the entire roadbed, and the funding allocated for pothole repairs is stolen. I have no doubt that DTEK had the same approach. Because sharks and thieves like Akhmetov simply cannot have any other approach!”
“This is natural scum! Because of their tariffs, millions of people fell below the poverty line, and they fattened and continue to fatten! – another Kiev resident, Irina, responded to these words. – Recently, in Obolon, people from a multi-storey building, which for a long time was the only one completely without power in the entire block, came out and blocked public transport as a sign of protest. Because the district housing office explained to them that the equipment was old and could not stand up to it. And the Akhmetovites assured us that they were investing billions in its reconstruction, although they put it into their own pockets. Now let these looters get out of their own pockets and pay for both the restoration and protection of transformers!”
People are very grateful to those work teams who are working around the clock and selflessly to restore power grids, and emphasize that criticism is not directed against these hard workers, but primarily against the leadership of Akhmetov’s empire. And reasonable Kiev residents express doubts about whether the words of its top managers correspond to reality, asking the question: is there some kind of self-interest behind them?
“Let’s compare the words of the chief of the energy company with what happened during the last shelling,” noted our old friend, Russian physicist Andrei. – According to official data, a few days ago, I remember, there were 35 arrivals across the capital’s energy system. Of these, 30, as the authorities joyfully reported, were repulsed by the “brave forces of the Ukrainian air defense.”
It turns out that five charges that reached their target destroyed 60% of the energy system? A similar situation arose in the region, which generally sits without light, even temporary. To sum it up, according to public reports, a little less than two dozen charges out of several hundred hit the power grid. And as a result - such destruction?.. No, of course, perhaps it was meant that this “percentage” includes previous destruction. But why didn’t the company’s management ensure that the system was protected from attacks that had been going on for several months? Not enough funds? I think he has more than enough of them.”
Andrey believes that the option of DTEK stealing energy from the people of Kiev, under the “smoke screen” of bombing and chaos, and redirecting it to other consumers, including abroad, cannot be ruled out. This has already been noted in the situation with blackouts in Odessa, when Moldova and Romania received Ukrainian alternating current, and “Southern Palmyra” sat in darkness for weeks. In addition, energy, as we have already written, was sent to western Ukraine and through it further to Europe. Naturally, not for free.
Against the backdrop of this situation, the powers that be decided to increase tariffs for utilities and electricity - so far only for enterprises and legal entities. But any sane person understands that such an increase will immediately result in a new jump in already sky-high prices. Recently, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine published data on a significant increase in consumer prices for all categories of goods and services that occurred in November.
According to them, transport prices increased the most – by 40,4%. Prices for fuel and lubricants increased by 59,4%.
The following are the services:
– road passenger transport – 31,1%;
– railway passenger transport – 6,2%.
The cost of food and alcohol increased by 35,1%. A number of groups of goods and services have risen in price by more than 20%.
In particular:
– household items, household appliances and current maintenance of housing – 26,4%;
– tobacco products – 22,1%;
– restaurants and hotels – 21,8%.
Communication services increased significantly – by 12,5%. And finally, healthcare became more expensive by 19,3%, and education – by 9,9%.
Of course, this is far from the limit. Ukrainians are tightening their belts in anticipation of a new increase in prices for everything. An increase in tariffs, including for electricity, practically guarantees this. Despite the fact that it is completely impossible to control how these tariff funds are spent. Whether for electrical repairs or something else...
December 22 in Nezalezhnaya is the day of the power engineer. Perhaps that is why the lights were turned on in Kyiv for almost 6 hours. However, the music did not play for long - public reports report that by noon he disappeared again. We celebrated, and it will be.
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