Andrii Tereshchuk: why it is impossible to go without a scheduled maintenance and how to find out about an outage in advance

Thermal power generation16 December 2021

DTEK Dnipro Grids is upgrading power facilities to improve the power supply to customers. To this end, the company repairs lines, eliminates breakdowns and upgrades equipment in transformer substations. Andrii Tereshchuk, Head of DTEK Dnipro Grids, told the customers what the repair duration depends on and how to find out about a power cut in advance during the live stream named #AskAboutTheLight on Facebook.

The overhead power transmission lines serviced by the company stretch for more than 50,000 kilometers. Like any mechanism, electrical networks and electrical equipment need regular maintenance, modernization, fault elimination and replacement of certain parts. This is required to provide customers with a reliable power supply and reduce interruptions. During repairs, the power supply is turned off. The company does this for the safety of energy workers who do the high-risk job.

“DTEK strives to become the standard of customer focus. We understand that in pandemic, it is crucial that customers always have lights on and the Internet. We are doing about 35% of repairs on 0.4 kV lines employing European technology - without power interruptions. Now we are the first in Ukraine to master live-line work on medium voltage lines of 6-20 kV, which will help us to do 57% of maintenances by the end of 2022. However, there is a list of planned works that require temporary power outages for customers. If we do not do them, we will not be able to prevent faults. And it is better to be patient with inconveniences for some time, because otherwise a failure might lead to a longer blackout,” says Andrii Tereshchuk, Head of DTEK Dnipro Grids.

The duration of a power outage may vary, depending on the work complexity and other technical factors. When forming a maintenance plan, we put in some extra time in case of unforeseen situations. However, the company's energy workers are trying to complete the planned work as soon as possible and return power to people. After all, they understand that any power outage, even a short one, entails inconvenience for customers.

As the head of the company explained, thanks to remote services, customers can learn about outages in advance and plan their day accordingly. You can check the website, Viber or Telegram chatbot, or send a DM on the DTEK Dnipro Grids Facebook. Also, since September, a special online channel for condominiums has been launched in Viber - DTEK info DNEM, which promptly notifies about planned works and emergencies in the power grid.

Andriy Tereshchuk also answered other questions asked by the residents of the region regarding the company. Full video recording of #AskAboutTheLight can be found here.