Business on power outages: are they planning to make money on generators at Ukrenergo’s suggestion?
4 June 2024 13:05
The blackouts in the capital and Kyiv region, in addition to saving electricity, may also have very specific business goals. In particular, the editorial sources
Although the blackout schedules differ in each region of the country, Kyiv and Kyiv region have the highest number of hours without power.
According to the source, this logic of Ukrenergo’s actions may have its justification.
Firstly, Kyiv and the region have a high population density and a fairly active electorate, which may feel emotionally frustrated, tired and lose electoral sympathy for the government due to constant power outages.
“As strange as this thesis may sound, other political and business groups can use this factor to their advantage. Officials are well aware of the negative consequences for the government’s ratings due to the lack of electricity. They understand this better than they understand what to do to protect the energy infrastructure. Mr Kudrytskyi is a very calculating person in this regard,”
– the source emphasises.
Secondly, there have long been tacit agreements between NPC Ukrenergo, represented by its CEO, and business regarding the need to sell a significant number of generators. It is not only about the generators imported to Ukraine during the previous blackouts, but also about those that will be imported to Ukraine again.
“The capital region is also considered to have a fairly high purchasing power. Accordingly, the plan for generator sales is very ambitious,”
– says the source.
Coincidentally or logically, yesterday Prime Minister Denys Shymagl announced the return of tax breaks on imports of generators and energy equipment .
The Prime Minister’s announcement was preceded by a call to Ukrainians from Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi himself to “provide ourselves with electricity on our own”.
In this statement, the country’s chief “power engineer”, among other things, prepared the population for the fact that problems with electricity would last for a long time. Kudrytskyi explained, in particular, that “along with the restoration of facilities damaged by Russian attacks, new power plants must be built. And they should replace those power units that are very badly damaged.” But their restoration will allegedly take “a very long time”.
Therefore, as sources close to Ukrenergo admit, Kudrytskyi “has made an agreement with businessmen who have purchased a large number of generators before and will now sell them with a nice margin.”
Given this history, it is not clear that the blackout schedules will continue and, according to the source, will depend not only on Russian shelling or damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, but also on the sales of generators in certain regions.
Can we rule out a conspiracy between Ukrenergo and certain business representatives?
Why are Kyiv and the region really experiencing blackouts more often than the rest of Ukraine?
Why is there such synchronisation among government officials in calling for independent generation and new benefits for generator importers?
The questions remain open, as does the right of Ukrenergo and the Cabinet of Ministers to comment
It is worth noting that in business circles, the information about the possible commercial purposes of selective blackouts was commented by the editors as “quite logical”, given that shadowy collusion between interested businesses and a certain circle of government officials is quite common, especially in post-Soviet countries.
