As part of preparations for the autumn-winter period of 2023/2024, the operator of the electricity distribution system DTEK Kyiv Grids expects to repair and upgrade 832 power facilities, including 12 high-voltage substations, and 100 km of overhead and cable lines, CEO of the company Denys Bondar has said.

"We must conduct a full audit of our equipment that has come under fire. We must repair the destroyed equipment and create an emergency reserve, which will allow us to successfully go through the next winter, probably no less difficult than the current one. New shelling is possible, new restrictions due to wear and tear of networks that have arisen during this winter period," Bondar said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

According to him, all the required restoration steps are planned to be made at the expense of the investment program of approximately UAH 750 million.

"Due to the regrouping of equipment, the development of new schemes and the use of repaired equipment, we will complete all the scope of work for this year. The investment program was approved in December. We included the objects that came under fire in this program and will re-equip at its expense. The size of the program is UAH 750 million, it is about the same as last year," he said.

In addition, the head of the network operator added that the company also receives international humanitarian assistance, in particular cable products and switches.

At the same time, summing up the results of this winter, Bondar said that in preparation for it, the company managed to upgrade 727 energy facilities, including 11 high-voltage substations, and 126 km of lines, which contributed to the provision of energy supply to the city of Kyiv.

At the same time, the CEO said that during the winter period, the company managed to align the schedules of hourly disconnections of consumers, which were applied during 124 days out of 180 days of the heating season. Also, DTEK Kyiv Grids ensured the operation of their information resources, despite the fact that the number of calls, in particular to the call center, increased 2.5 times at the beginning of 2023, to 1.8 million, and the number of chatbot users increased 5 times to 758,000.

At the same time, the CEO of the company said that the number of accidents in networks during 2022 increased by a third to 5,100. At the same time, 348 accidents arose directly due to the shelling of Russian aggressors and more than 500 due to constant switching on/off of power supply due to the need to apply power supply restrictions. According to him, as a result of missile attacks in Kyiv during the heating season, emergency blackouts were introduced 14 times to prevent large-scale destruction of the power system.

DTEK Kyiv Grids services 1.2 million residential customers and 29,000 business customers in Kyiv, employs 1,712 people.