When Ukraine will be free of power cuts again: forecast by former head of Ukrenergo
14 February 13:16
Former Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said when power outage schedules might be canceled after the 2025/2026 energy sector shelling. He said this in an interview with Delo.ua, as reported by "Komersant Ukrainian".
“It’s totally possible. I remember February 18, 2023, really well. It was the first day that we at Ukrenergo didn’t give the order to restrict consumers. My wife and I were driving and stopped at the hill where the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is located. From there, you could see the entire left bank — it was glowing with lights. I even took a photo of it on my phone, which was later stolen by the State Bureau of Investigation. After that day, there were no more blackouts for over a year, even though the scale of the destruction was enormous,” Kudritsky said.
According to him, if the Russians continue their energy terrorism, it is likely that the power outages will continue. However, once the shelling stops, energy companies will be able to repair the damaged infrastructure and reduce the deficit in the system.
“Our power system has an absolutely amazing ability to regenerate. Personally, in 2022, I believed that the system would survive five massive attacks, maybe seven. But it survived 18. I repeat: since mid-February, we have had no blackouts. And this has been the case every year,” the former head of Ukrenergo emphasized.
Are there any chances of returning to life without schedules?
It should be noted that massive strikes on energy infrastructure, generation shortages, and cold weather have led to a situation where most of the country continues to live with prolonged power outages.
Currently, due to massive shelling of energy infrastructure, Ukraine is forced to switch to a regime of 4.5–5 rounds of power outages, under which the duration of power outages may exceed 16 hours per day.
According to former Energy Minister Ivan Plachkov, there is a chance that the power outage schedules will be canceled, but this will only happen in Ukraine in the summer and during the next heating season.
