TOP-5 tips for energy efficiency in winter from DTEK Kyiv Region Grids

Thermal power generation08 December 2020

In the autumn-winter season, the networks load increases substantially. The main reasons are fewer daylight hours and heavy use of heating devices. Reasonable use of energy-intensive devices will help to avoid overloads and emergency shutdowns in your house or apartment. DTEK Kyiv Region Grids takes care of customers, and warns about the risks of overloading electrical networks. To this extend, we offer five tips for energy efficiency.

Each residential building is designed and built considering certain calculated values, including the type of heating, specific parameters of power networks, which are designed for a certain capacity. If the load exceeds the norm, there may be problems and accidents in power networks - both domestic and external, supplying whole buildings and neighborhoods. If there are lots of electrical appliances switched on simultaneously (heating equipment, water heaters, air conditioners, microwave ovens, electric kettles, etc.), the capacity required for their operation increases tenfold. Power networks that are not designed for such loads operate in emergency mode, and this leads to massive power outages. Due to excessive overloading, cables and electric wires do not stand up and burn, circuit breakers in the panels located on the stairwells are turned off, protection at substations is turned off, electricity-metering devices are damaged, and lighting devices are burnt. Therefore, we have poor quality of electricity, and low voltage level. Moreover, not only the customer, who switched on such powerful electrical appliances, have lower voltage quality, but all his neighbors and even an entire area as well.

“In winter, the electricity consumption traditionally increases in the homes of our customers, and due to the excessive load on the networks, the accident rate also increases. We are improving and upgrading the networks in well advance. However, in winter, people are switching on energy-intensive devices simultaneously, and therefore the networks are overloaded. And this increases the risk of blackouts. The city residents exceed their contractual capacity and use many energy-intensive equipment at the same time. So, our advice is to be rational about electricity consumption, or increase your contractual capacity, if needed”, says Vitalii Shaida, DTEK Kyiv Region Grids CEO.

DTEK Kyiv Region Grids cares about the comfort of customers and have developed TOP 5 energy efficiency tips to avoid network overload:

1) Choose energy efficient devices when purchasing electrical appliances. As a rule, manufacturers indicate the power consumption of the device. The less, the better. Please, pay particular attention to energy-consuming devices: convectors, electric ovens, refrigerators, boilers, electric kettles and irons.

2) Distribute the load. Turn on the most energy-intensive appliances one at a time. This is especially crucial for houses built before 2000. The domestic networks of these houses, as a rule, are not designed for high network loads.

3) Try to avoid peak load hours. Usually this time is between 7:00AM and 11:00 AM and between 8:00PM and 10:00PM. During these hours, there is a peak of simultaneous load on the network, and we can see such peaks both in a single apartment and in the entire area.

4) Switch to night power mode. Whenever possible, use heating appliances, dishwashers and washing machines at night. This will avoid emergency load peaks, and save up to 50% on the night tariff.

5) Make sure that you have the contact number of an electrician, because if the problem is within the house, this issue should be resolved by a company responsible for the domestic networks:

The balance holder or manager of your house (condominium, management company, etc.) - in the apartment building;
Homeowner - in a private house;

If you have the power cuts due to overload, turn off all energy intense devices, and turn on the circuit breaker. If the light continues to go off, contact an electrician. Do not try to fix it yourself, it is dangerous!

If there is a need to increase the contractual capacity for your house or apartment, please, visit the DTEK Kyiv Region Grids CSC at your place of residence with a set of required documents, or submit a request online on the company's website.

As previously reported, DTEK Kyiv Region Grids will invest over UAH 342 million to upgrade and reconstruct substations and networks in 2020. Thanks to this, the power company will ensure a reliable and uninterrupted power supply to more than a million household and business customers across Kyiv Region. In addition, the company is investing almost UAH 50 million in providing its customers with a reliable power supply in the autumn-winter period 2020/2021.