DTEK Donetsk Grids restored electricity to 386,000 families over the course of a week

Bad weather and hostilities caused massive power outages in the Donetsk region last week. Over the course of the week, energy workers restored power to 304 settlements, de-energized due to abnormal bad weather, thus restoring electricity to 309,000 families. The largest energy joints are now restored and critical infrastructure facilities, de-energized due to bad weather, are connected. Energy workers are working despite fatigue and colossal loads. Last week, colleagues from Dnipro, Odesa and Kyiv region came to help facilitate repairs. Several more crews of our colleagues from other regions are coming to help this week. 

Today, 79 crews are engaged in restorations. They work on restoration of electricity for another 12,000 households. 

Hostilities did not subside in the Donetsk region as well. Over the course of the week, they managed to repair a number of damages and restore electricity to 77,000 families in 117 settlements, whose homes were de-energized due to shelling. 

Abnormal bad weather has been ongoing in the Donetsk region for a week now. The trees could not withstand the weight of the ice cover, massively falling almost in every yard and causing emergencies on the grids. The lines itself got covered with a layer of ice sometimes three times thicker than the diameter of the wire. Sometimes not only lines but also poles could not withstand such load. Then there is glaze ice on the roads. Energy workers had to use tractors to pull service machinery to the sites of repairs. 

Bad weather came in two waves – once energy workers restored power to main energy joints last week, the next wave of bad weather started, causing new power outages. 

Due to the abnormal weather conditions, a regional-level emergency was announced in the Donetsk region on December 15 via the decree of Regional Commission on Technogenic and Environmental Safety and Emergencies.  

Please be reminded of the need to follow electrical safety rules: 

• do not stay near power lines during strong wind;   
• do not approach broken wire closer than 8-12 meters and never touch it;  
• If you see wires that fell to the ground, ruptured or sagging wires, open doors and hatches of electrical installations, as well as damaged poles, please, inform us via the energy company’s call center or via private messages on our Facebook page;

If you have a power outage, please inform us about it in a convenient way: via remote service channels: DTEK Donetsk Grids website, company’s Facebook page. You can also contact the call center: +38 (093/099) 450 0 473, though it may take more time due to a large number of calls. 

Energy workers are working 24/7 and doing everything possible to provide electricity to every home. Only together and with joint efforts will we be able to endure and overcome these dark times!