Kyiv continues to survive in the conditions of war for almost a year.

Suffering from enemy rocket attacks, the city holds on despite all the difficulties.

Energy workers and utility workers work wonders every day, providing the necessary services in such difficult conditions.

TSN.ua website asked Petro Panteleev, deputy head of the KMDA, what is happening now in the field of housing and communal services.



Is the capital threatened with blackout?

What should be done to prevent this from happening?



Restrictions on electricity supply in Kyiv continue to be applied, and they directly depend on the scale and consequences of missile attacks.

In the capital, depending on these factors, a certain geography of problem areas was recorded.

In particular, after successive shellings, the northern part of the city - Obolonskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and Podilskyi districts - was problematic from the point of view of electricity supply.

Other districts were in better condition.

However, we can talk about a blackout for the city only in the context of the consequences of enemy rocket attacks and damage to critical infrastructure facilities.



The enemy regularly tries to target energy facilities in Kyiv and the region.

The Russians are trying to leave Kyiv completely without electricity

.

But thanks to our anti-aircraft defense, which repels these attacks as much as possible.

Nevertheless, we are preparing for various scenarios of the development of events, including more critical ones, but we are doing everything to ensure that a blackout does not happen.

In particular, we are working on restoring equipment that has already been disabled or damaged by shelling.

I believe that we will hold the city and pass the winter without serious disasters.



How many housing and communal services facilities were damaged by rocket attacks in Kyiv?



I cannot name the number - the information should not be disclosed for security purposes.

But I can say that the enemy struck most of the objects of critical infrastructure of Kyiv, and some - not once or twice.



Kyiv has already experienced more than half of this winter.

Will the city have enough resources to survive until spring without problems and with warmth?



As for resources, the main resource for the city is gas, and we worked out the issue of its provision.

Now, thanks to God, the consumption of blue fuel, due to the warm weather for winter, is lower.

Gas consumption has also decreased due to the fact that part of the equipment is damaged and does not work.

Therefore, if we compare with the forecasts that were made at the beginning of winter, we confidently look at this heating season in terms of the availability of energy resources.

There should be no problems.



That is, will we have enough gas?

Because some experts said that a gas shortage is possible in February.



Kyiv is not supplied with gas separately.

The city receives it from national gas pipelines, as does the entire country.

The capital is an integral part of the country's energy system, so there will be enough gas for both Kyiv and other regions.

Of course, Naftogaz knows this more precisely, but we also see the real situation, and it does not cause concern yet.

The issue of gas payments between heat suppliers and gas suppliers remains complicated.

Since electricity will now be produced at the expense of gas, there are problems with timely payment.

Photo: KMDA

Do you mean that the population does not pay?



No.

Despite the difficulty of life during the war, financial exhaustion, Kyivans continue to pay for communal services.

And I want to thank the townspeople for their awareness and patriotism in this regard.

These funds are immediately transferred to gas and the salaries of our utility workers.

For objective reasons, not everyone can pay one hundred percent for communal services, but in such a difficult time, the percentage of payment by the population of Kyiv is quite high.



I meant that we are currently mobilizing the available resources and funds to pay for gas as much as possible.

This is necessary to create a reserve for the next heating season.

It should be done now, not in October.



What is the current situation with electricity in the city?

Are there areas that are still suffering from lack of electricity?

Now there are no geographical problem areas, as there were in November and December.

The city does not have hourly schedules yet, but power outages are more or less predictable.

On the resources of DTEK, we can see the time when there will definitely be electricity in certain houses.

Periods when the light will be absent are also indicated.

Unfortunately, we still have a "gray zone" - it's 50 for 50 - there may or may not be a shutdown.

In general, it can be said that the

situation with electricity in Kyiv is difficult, but controlled.



People often talk about houses in which there is always light, especially in the center of Kyiv.

This is very annoying for those who do not have electricity for several hours.

Are records of such "trump" houses kept, and will they be forcibly disconnected from electricity?



Indeed, this topic is very lively discussed in society.

There are houses that are part of the chain that feeds critical infrastructure objects.

These are hospitals, military facilities, water and heat supply points.

And such houses do not turn off, because they do not turn off the source of electricity.

We are working on it.

The city has an anti-crisis headquarters with the participation of representatives of DTEK, service companies and others, where we analyze such cases and make appropriate management decisions.

If there are already restrictions, then it should be clear for people, transparent and predictable as much as possible, depending on the situation that exists in the city at any given moment.

For example, management companies, housing cooperatives and condominiums, at the request of DTEK, also limit their consumption - they voluntarily turn off electricity manually to avoid complaints from neighbors,

which sit without light longer.

This makes it possible to make the schedules of power outages in general in the city more loyal.



The situation is constantly changing, as different regions are subject to new and new enemy attacks.

For example, if we talk about the recent shelling on January 14, despite the fact that there was no damage to objects directly in the capital from the occupiers' missiles, there were attacks in other regions.

It still affected the situation in Kyiv, because the city is an integral part of the country's general energy system.

The war showed how vulnerable power grids are during military operations and missile attacks.

Will any innovations in this area be introduced to make electricity supply to residential buildings more reliable?



So.

Our equipment was not built with rocket attacks in mind.

This is purely civilian infrastructure, it is quite vulnerable.

Now we continue to work on the physical protection of such objects.

And if we talk about modernization in general, then it will definitely happen and the basis will be the protection of such systems and equipment.

There is international experience in protecting such infrastructure, and we study and analyze it.

I am convinced that the relevant regulatory documentation will be changed and the new equipment will be placed in the most protected places, as required by the conditions of war.



Most of the houses on the Left Bank of Kyiv have electricity.

That is, if it turns off in the house, the heat, water, Internet, and communication immediately disappear.

Is it possible to install generators in such areas so that people can somehow survive?

There are also such houses on the right bank.

In multi-apartment complexes with electricity, people really suffer more when the electricity goes out.

There are houses with individual heating points and indoor equipment that does not work without electricity.

It would be ideal to have a generator for every house, but obviously this is impossible in practice.

In addition, one powerful generator consumes a sufficiently large amount of energy resources, and the services derived from this will be, if not "golden", then "gilded".

Therefore, we direct the generators that we currently receive from partners or buy to critical infrastructure facilities - pumping stations, boiler houses, artesian wells.

This is done in order to immediately provide heat and water supply to as many consumers as possible during a shutdown.


To solve the problem of houses with electricity, we need to change the regulations to minimize the risks for the residents of such buildings.

But this is not a matter of one day.

Therefore, the city decided to compensate the costs of purchasing generators for such buildings.

The capital compensates more than 70% of the cost of the generator.

At the beginning of January, we received about 110 applications for the installation of generators, and these are 110 houses.

And the number of those interested is growing.

Therefore, it is now a real way out of a difficult situation for houses with electrical equipment, so that residents do not suffer from blackouts.


And separately regarding generators.

How many of them has Kyiv already received from Western partners?



We have already received hundreds of generators of various capacities as part of humanitarian aid.

Plus, we purposefully received generators from USAID for thermal generation facilities - more than 130 generators.



To what extent was the water supply system of the capital affected by missile strikes?

How many resources are needed to restore it?



No comments here.

For the enemy, such goals are the most important, as for real terrorists.

They want exactly that - to drive the city into darkness and cold.

They are constantly trying to hit such objects, but we are restoring everything.



Some experts say that in Kyiv after the New Year, the prices of water supply and drainage services should have increased.

Is this question relevant?



The issue of the increase in the cost of utility services is certainly relevant.

We understand that to purify water, you need to purchase reagents for its disinfection, as well as pay for electricity, which is already much more expensive than before.

At the same time, we understand that raising tariffs for the population is simply impossible now.

People pay for services anyway, regardless of their difficult financial situation due to the war.

There is no question of raising tariffs now.

Convinced that we need to follow the path chosen for thermal energy last year.

At that time, a decision was made on a moratorium on raising tariffs, but, at the same time, the payment of compensation for thermal power enterprises at the expense of the state budget was guaranteed.

In my opinion, the same path should be followed in relation to water supply and drainage.

The responsibility of both local self-government bodies and the state should be consolidated.

The metropolitan government, for its part, helps life support enterprises with financial resources, but a certain part of these funds must be compensated at the expense of the state.

So this problem can be solved.



Residents of Kyiv complain that despite interruptions in electricity and heat supply, they receive considerable sums of money in their bills.

What is it connected with?



Sometimes controversial issues arise related to charges for cold and hot water.

In most cases, the reasons are untimely transmission of meter readings or no transmission of indicators at all.

Various circumstances affect this - someone forgot, someone was unable to do it due to leaving the city.

But without meter readings, the law obliges the service provider to charge according to the weighted average indicator of service consumption.

In this case, it is necessary to provide the current meter readings, a reconciliation is made and the person is recalculated.

If you have already paid, the excess funds are transferred to the next month.

I would like to note that it is necessary to transfer indicators even if you have consumed zero.

Tourist gas canisters, which have been sold in the capital since October, have caused fires and explosions in houses.

How many such cases have already been recorded?

Maybe we should ban the sale of such products?



Due to the lack of electricity, people are forced to buy tourist gas canisters to cook food.

Unfortunately, these are the realities of today.

More than 10 incidents involving the explosion or ignition of gas cylinders that took place in the capital were caused by a gross violation of operating rules.

In the instructions and on the cans themselves, there is information that, for example, cans can not be heated, put on electric stoves, kept close to fire, etc.


The tourist balloons themselves cannot explode unexpectedly, they stand for a long time on the counters of ordinary stores and at points of sale.

The main thing is not to violate the rules of their operation and not to endanger yourself and the people around you.



Has the number of janitors decreased in Kyiv since the beginning of the war?



The number of cleaners has decreased.

The reason is difficult working conditions and low salaries.

Even before the war, there was a severe shortage of cleaning workers.

And now - even more so.

Therefore, the people who work for us now are worth their weight in gold.

But it should be understood that the increase in wages for them is directly related to the increase in fees for building maintenance.

Therefore, the city must find a balance - to leave the level of the cost of services affordable for people and to ensure the appropriate salary of the workers who work in this area, to provide them with proper working conditions, resources and equipment to facilitate the work.