Electricity tariffs may rise in Ukraine due to Russian strikes – Haluschenko
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is considering the possibility of increasing electricity tariffs in connection with new Russian attacks on the energy sector, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko said in an interview with Bloomberg.
“Depending upon the situation in July and August, we will ask people to save as much as possible. The Russians can’t cause a repeat of the blackouts of 2022 and 2023. Even in the case of huge damage, we’ll have basic generation that covers 30% to 50% of our needs,” Haluschenko said.
Haluschenko didn’t rule out increasing the electricity tariff for households, and said the government is studying multiple ways of financing repairs for its energy assets, the report reads. Kyiv almost doubled the price for electricity in June last year after winter attacks.
“Today the situation is even more complicated, compared with last year, as we have lost a lot of hydropower production and have to conduct planned repairs of nuclear units,” he said.
"Russia’s bombardments of Ukrainian energy targets in recent weeks were larger and better planned than the attacks in the previous two years, knocking out generating facilities and limiting power supplies. That has made restoring equipment and protecting the grid key priorities for the government even as it struggles to assess how much damage has been done," the minister said.
“The destruction was significant — in power generation and in electricity transmission. The situation is difficult. We still do not understand the scale of damage as many facilities are still in rubble and we can’t reach them,” Haluschenko said.
"Thermal and hydropower stations have been the main focus of Russia’s strikes in the spring. Those attacks threaten not only electricity losses, but ecological disasters as well. Attacks on hydropower generation are acts of terrorism and war crimes, as they affect not only energy production, but the operation of dams across the rivers,” the minister said.
Russia’s goal is to ruin Ukraine’s economy, Haluschenko said, adding that more damage to the grid would make it difficult to meet this summer’s consumption peaks.
“We will definitely communicate with people. Everyone wants to live comfortably, but we have to think about the fact there are limitations at this time,” he said.