Power supply situation most difficult in Zhitomir, Kharkov regions - Ukrenergo
MOSCOW. March 10 (Interfax) - Transmission restrictions caused by significant damage to equipment remain in place in the Zhitomir and Kharkov regions, where hourly blackout schedules have to be used, Ukrainian media outlets said with a reference to the Ukrenergo national energy company's pages on social networks.
According to Ukrenergo, part of consumers in Zhitomir and Kharkov are still left without electricity, and the critical infrastructure of these cities operates predominantly using autonomous power sources. There have been emergency power outages in the Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk regions.
Consumption limits have not been imposed in other regions, consumption recorded at a weekday level is covered by power generation, Ukrenergo said.
At the same time, Zhytomyroblenergo warned on social networks on Friday morning that the schedules of hourly blackouts published on is official website were temporarily not working before noon in light of a sharp drop in voltage and emergency shutdowns by automatic controls.
Zhitomir Mayor Sergei Sukhomlin, for his part said, that the regional center is capable of receiving only about 25% of amount of electricity.
He forecast that it would take approximately two or two and a half weeks to stabilize power supply by means of supplying electricity from other regions.
Ukrenergo CEO Vladimir Kudritsky said earlier that power engineering specialists managed to keep the integrity of the energy system, and there have been issues with transmission of electricity to the Kharkov, Odesa, and Zhitomir regions due to damage of the infrastructure.
According to Ukrainian media outlets citing latest information from Kharkov Mayor Igor Terekhov, power engineers and utility services restored power supply to over a half of residential buildings in Kharkov.
"We managed to power up about 60% of residential buildings overnight. There are certain complications. We are hoping to restore normal electricity supply in Kharkov soon," the press service quoted Terekhov as saying at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ecological Policy and Management of Natural Resources on Friday.
According to Terekhov, above-ground electric transport and metro are not working. Municipal buses are replacing them.