People in Pivdennoukrainsk demand easing of power outage schedules

Local residents oppose power cuts. The author of the photo: Anna Boyko, YuzhkaNews.City

In Pivdenoukrainsk, local residents are protesting against power cuts. They complain that the town is completely dependent on electricity and there is no gas supply, so long power cuts effectively stop the life of the community.

This became known during the 65th session of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council, according to NikVesti.

The session was attended by local residents who complained about long power cuts of more than six hours and the lack of any alternative energy sources.

Mayor Valerii Onufriienko tried to explain to people why the power was not cut off in Pivdenoukrainsk last year, but now blackout schedules have been introduced.

Mayor Valerii Onufriienko. Photo: Pivdenoukrainsk City Council

According to him, this issue used to be coordinated with Pivdennoukrainsk City Council, but now the rules have changed. He noted that in July he appealed to the Ministry of Energy to cancel the schedules, but they only replied that «should wait a little». In September, he also discussed this issue during a meeting with the head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration Vitalii Kim.

«When decisions on scheduling were made, the Ministry of Energy's instructions stated that they had to coordinate the schedule with the city authorities. Now this instruction has been amended since November, so that it is no longer necessary to coordinate this issue with the city authorities, only the district and region», the mayor explained.

Oleksandr Drobot, director of the power grid subsidiary PJSC «Atomservice», added that last year there were many appeals and letters, so Ukrenergo «was afraid» and the power was not cut off in Pivdennoukrainsk.

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«Last year, they didn't switch it off. But then there were many letters to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada. And Ukrenergo was afraid of these letters, so we were not cut off in winter. And this year, the regional council signed (the schedules — note)», he said.

The deputies suggested that the mayor discuss the issue of schedules with the head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration once again or prepare a letter to be signed by the deputies themselves. However, the session did not make any decisions other than discussions, as it was incompetent due to the lack of a quorum.

At the same time, a draft appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers to streamline the schedules of power outages was published on the city council's website on the eve of the session, but it was never considered.

The appeal proposed to allow the supply of electricity from the PSP directly to the city or to grant Pivdennoukrainsk the status of a settlement with priority energy supply and to mitigate the schedules of outages.

It was noted that the city is completely dependent on electricity — there is no gas supply, so neither water supply nor heating nor food services in schools and kindergartens work without electricity. The hospital also operates only on electricity.

In the letter, the city council stressed that the power outage of 14-16 hours a day, 6-8 hours of which are continuous, makes it impossible for the townspeople, most of whom work at the energy complex, to live a normal life. This is leading to an increase in social tension.

Screenshot of the appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to regulate the power outage schedules

Screenshot of the appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to regulate the schedules of power outages

Earlier it was reported that street lighting would be temporarily switched off in Pivdenoukrainsk, Mykolaiv region.

At a session of the Mykolaiv City Council, Tetiana Dombrovska, a member of the «Servant of the People» party, asked whether it was possible to extend the evening lighting in the city by an hour after 23:00. The mayor promised to look into the matter.

The city council's Department of Housing and Communal Services said that an additional hour of lighting would cost the Mykolaiv city council 10 million hryvnias a year.