Energy efficiency tips for winter from DTEK Odesa Grids

Thermal power generation12 January 2021

During the fall winter season, the load on the power grid increases significantly. The main reason is intensive use of heating devices, which often entails network congestion and power outages. Reasonable use of energy-intensive devices will help to avoid overload and emergency blackouts in a house or an apartment.

Each residential building is designed and constructed taking into account utilities and resources needed to ensure the comfortable life of its future residents. Considerations are given to the type of heating, the amount of required electricity and its compliance with the parameters of the power grids, designed for a certain power. Exceed of the load limits can cause accidents in both in-house and external power networks, feeding houses and the entire quarters.

“DTEK is a conscious business. We usually get electrical networks ready for the winter period and upgrade them. However, in winter, due to the simultaneous switching on of a large number of electrical appliances, the network is overloaded, and this increases the risk of blackouts. To prevent this, we recommend not to use energy-intensive equipment at the same time, or to increase the contractual capacity, if necessary,” says Oleksandr Fomenko, DTEK Odesa Grids CEO.

Having many energy-intensive electrical appliances switched on simultaneously (heating devices, water heaters, air conditioners, microwave ovens, electric kettles, etc.), the required power for their operation increases tenfold. Electrical networks that are not designed for such loads operate in emergency mode, and this can lead to a blackout.

Due to excessive load, cables and electric wires do not withstand and burn, circuit breakers in shields, protection at substations are cut off, metering devices are damaged, and so on.

DTEK Odesa Grids have prepared top 5 energy efficiency tips for our customers to avoid network overload:

When buying household appliances, choose energy efficient ones. As a rule, manufacturers indicate the device output. The lower, the better. Particular attention should be paid to energy-consuming devices, such as electric oven, refrigerator, boiler, electric kettle, iron.
Distribute the load. Turn on the most power hungry appliances one at a time. This is especially important for houses built before 2000. Their in-house networks are usually not designed for high loads.
Try to avoid peak load hours. Usually this time is from 7:00AM to 11:00AM and from 08:00PM to 10:00PM. These are the peak hours of the simultaneous load on the network both in a single apartment and in the area.
Switch to night power mode. Whenever possible, use heating appliances, dishwashers and washing machines at night. This will avoid emergency load surges.
Ensure that you have the contact details of an electrician, because if the problem is within the house, a person responsible for the in-house networks should resolve an issue:

In an apartment building, such a person is a balance holder or a manager of your house (condominium, management company, etc.);
In a private house - an owner of the property;

If you have light cutoff due to overload, turn off all energy-consuming devices and turn on the circuit breaker.

If there is a need to increase the contractual capacity for your house or apartment, our customers can visit the local DTEK Odesa Grids Customer Center or submit a request online via the website.