Big Network Renovation: DTEK Odesa Grids upgrades the energy infrastructure across the region

Thermal power generation22 November 2021

Hundreds of kindergartens, schools, medical centers, apartment buildings and detached houses in the Odesa region now enjoy reliable power supply thanks to the Big Network Renovation project implemented by DTEK Odesa Grids. As part of the project, the company completed major repairs, reconstruction, and construction of new electrical infrastructure facilities in the region in 9 months 2021. Thanks to these measures, more than a million customers in Odesa and the region have a better power supply.

To ensure the reliability of the energy infrastructure in Odesa, DTEK Odesa Grids reconstructed the Chumka substation, is about to complete the construction of the Chubaevka substation and the Chumka - Chubaevka cable line. Thus, the company ensures that the power supply needs of the customers in the Malinovsky, Kyivsky and Primorsky districts of Odesa are met, and there are fewer power outages.

Besides, to ensure a stable power supply to customers in the Odesa region, the company has completed the maintenance of power transformers at two substations in the Berezovsky district, replaced the bushings of 110 kV power transformers at four substations in Izmail, Belgorod-Dnestrovsky and Bolgradsky districts. If such measures are completed in time, that means that there will be fewer power outages, and the customers will have their lights on.

“DTEK is a reliable and responsible company. We decided to follow the example of the state program Big Construction. So, the distribution system operators have started the Big Network Renovation project. In 2021, we will invest 888.8 million hryvnia in the power network development across the Odesa region. This is 86% more than in the past. Thanks to the investment incentive RAB tariffs - a new approach to tariff setting for electricity distribution adopted in Ukraine in 2021 - investments in Ukraine’s power grids have increased significantly. We have finally begun to upgrade the networks, which should have been done many years ago. In this way, we ensure the stable power supply to more than a million of our customers in Odesa and the Odesa region,” says Oleksandr Fomenko, Head of DTEK Odesa Grids.

In just 9 months 2021, DTEK Odesa Grids completed overhaul and construction of 3,100 km of overhead lines, replaced 4,000 poles and 186 km of bare wire with aerial bundled cable, reconstructed and replaced more than a thousand distribution points and transformer substations, installed 20,000 insulators and 13 reclosers, cleared almost 1,500 kilometers of overhead power lines. Hence, these lines became safer and more reliable.

As part of the 2021 investment program, the company installed 2,200 smart meters for customers living in the villages of Dachnoe, Usatovo, Altestovo, as well as in some districts of the historical part of the city of Odesa. Such meters automatically submit readings of the consumed electricity, which saves the customer’s time, because he does not need to report this data to the company himself through online services or a call center.

DTEK strives to become the benchmark for customer focus and implements modern service standards. The company develops convenient remote, including online, services to be in touch with customers 24/7, such as:

Viber and Telegram chatbots;
Customer online account on the DTEK Odesa Grids website;
Call center IVR menu: (048) 705 90 90, (068) 750 90 90, (095) 750 90 90, (073) 750 90 90;

For nine months, the company processed 666,700 incoming calls, 55,300 enquiries via e-mail, messages in the chatbot, online account, Facebook, and others. About 130,000 customers used the Viber and Telegram chatbot.