Over the past 2 weeks, 30% of emergencies in the Kyiv region have occurred due to simultaneous switching on of electrical appliances and overload of the grids, – DTEK Kyiv Regional Grids

Thermal power generation09 December 2022

After a series of russia’s missile strikes, the situation in the Ukrainian energy system remains difficult. Due to a significant power shortage, power outages take place throughout the country daily. However, after the electricity is restored, residents of the Kyiv region start to switch on electrical appliances en masse. This overloads the grids by 2-2.5 times and in 30% of cases leads to emergencies, leaving customers without electricity once again. In order to avoid such emergencies, energy workers urge residents of the Kyiv region to switch on electrical appliances one by one.

The grids are constructed and designed for a certain electricity consumption capacity that they can withstand. This value is called a coincidence factor and it complies with the state regulations for design of grids infrastructure. If the grid is not overloaded – the coincidence factor is up to 0.4. However, during application of emergency or stabilization shutdowns, when electricity is being restored, residents of the buildings simultaneously start to use all their appliances – washing machines, electric stoves, boilers, etc. This loads the grid by 100% (and sometimes by up to 200%) and, correspondingly, coincidence factor is from 0.8 to 1, meaning that the load is 2-2.5 times higher than the one that the grids are designed for. Despite the reserve capacity, this overload, in 30% of cases, causes emergencies on the grids, thus leaving people without electricity again. The duration of repair and power restoration already depend on the scale of power equipment damage and may take from several hours to a day.

“Customers frequently contact our contact center with complaints about the lack of electricity under scheduled and emergency shutdowns for over 4 hours. When we start to deal with these situations, we discover that in 30% of cases the lack of electricity is caused by an emergency. Shutdown is over, electricity is restored to the building, residents simultaneously switched on all appliances and the grid did not hold. Over the past 2 weeks alone, we have eliminated over 2,000 such damages on the grids throughout the Kyiv region. We ask residents of the region to be reasonable and switch on appliances after shutdowns one by one in order to reduce the risk of emergencies” – informed DTEK Kyiv Regional Grids General Director Vitalii Shaida.

In order to minimize risks of emergencies, please do the following:

After limitation of electricity supply to your building, disconnect all energy-consuming appliances from the grid and switch off all switches in rooms, where there are no people;
After restoration of electricity, do not switch on all energy-consuming appliances simultaneously. Wait for at least 15 minutes after restoration of electricity. Then, switch on one appliance first, and the other one – after you have used and switched off the previous one. Please use energy-consuming appliances one by one;

We understand that in the conditions of regular power outages, whenever the electricity is restored people want to do everything as soon as possible. However, if you fail to follow the advices, the electricity will be absent even longer due to emergencies.

Please support energy workers, who are working 24/7 and are doing everything possible to provide electricity to every home. Only together and by joining efforts, we will be able to withstand and overcome these dark times!