Energy consumption to decrease in Ukraine in next few weeks - Ukrenergo CEO

MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax) - Energy consumption in Ukraine is currently decreasing in comparison with the winter months, and consumption of electricity will continue decreasing in the coming weeks, Ukrenergo CEO Vladimir Kudritsky said.

"The end of the autumn-winter season and the heating season will result in the further decrease of energy consumption, and it will be easier for the energy system to cover it from the resources of power plants we currently have," Ukrainian media outlets quoted Kudritsky as saying live on the telethon on Friday.

The decrease in electricity consumption is primarily seasonal, he said.

"Heating systems run, as a rule, on natural gas, however relevant pumps and other equipment at thermal power plans and boiler rooms also consume electricity. This is why the reduction of the amount of generation of heat will automatically lead to the reduction of the amounts of generation of electricity. This is why it will be easier for the energy system too," he said.

At the same time, he also commended energy saving programs introduced by the government, for instance, the population's replacing filament light bulbs with energy saving LED light bulbs in an organized fashion.

"Such energy saving events also yield and will yield their result. Therefore, we all became a little bit more energy efficient this winter and learned to save up," Kudritsky said.

However, the situation surrounding the energy balance, which Ukraine has been maintaining for several weeks now, still remains precarious, he said.

"We will work to restore generating capacities. We will plan the work in the summer in such way to ensure that power units to be repaired are replaced by those already repaired. Or we will additionally use the switching of power units from other power plants," he said.