Gerus: electricity imports will really help to balance our system this month

The Chairman of the Energy Committee of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Gerus said that traders imported electricity to ensure and balance the power system of Ukraine due to low coal reserves in warehouses.

According to him, an alarming trend has been observed in Ukraine since December – coal reserves in warehouses are decreasing. They accounted for only 44% of the required minimum guaranteed coal reserves at the end of January. Or 21% of the coal that was in warehouses a year ago.

“Now we see that already in January there were certain frosts, and we expect that February will be very frosty, almost the whole month the temperature will be cold, and on some days it will be minus 15 degrees. Accordingly, we usually cannot be dependent or bear risks in such conditions since some companies did not bring coal to their warehouses. However, we still have 80% of coal-fired power plants - private companies, and, accordingly, the import of electricity began in Ukraine. And this import of electricity now occupies about 3-4% of our consumption,” he said.

Gerus recalled that imports take place precisely at the time when the peak electricity consumption in Ukraine.

“And it is during those peak hours that the situation will be balanced with the help of imports and we have a normal stable situation, and there are no serious risks of rolling blackouts,” the chairman of the energy committee noted.

Andrii Gerus also hopes that there will be no such need already in March.

“There are many reproaches because some make such political accusations that it affects energy security, this import, which may be. Of course, it does not affect, because we are monitoring what kind of import, what value. And today this import is less than 5%, that is, such a value cannot in any way affect energy security, ”summed up Andrii Gerus.

To recap, Ukraine has resumed importing electricity from Russia.