Lack of electricity and recovery time: useful resources of DTEK for Dnipropetrovsk region.

Blackout Photo: DTEK

As a result of continuous attacks on the energy infrastructure in Ukraine, stabilization shutdowns are being used again. To find out when power supply to your specific address, use the stabilization outage schedules on your distribution system operator’s web page. On October 24, DTEK Dniprovski elektromerezhi provided useful links for its consumers.

To see the schedule on the website, go to the section “No electricity?” and enter your address. If outages are implemented, you will see two types of graphs:

• per day — contains the most accurate information about the hours when electricity will be available and when outages are possible;
• forecast for the week — shows approximate outage intervals so you can plan ahead.

It is also possible to view the schedule from a mobile phone in Viber or Telegram chatbots. To do this:

• find the DTEK Dniprovski elektromerezhe bot, click “Start”;
• register using your mobile phone number and personal account number – this is required only once;
• in the menu, select “Schedule of shutdowns”.

The chatbot will notify you in advance during stabilization outages about turning off and restoring power to your address. The symbols in the graph are simple:

• white cell – there is electricity;
• gray with lightning – no electricity;
• half gray – there will be no electricity for 30 minutes.

All notations are present below the graphs.

Why are outage schedules introduced and what do they depend on? The reasons for electricity restrictions for consumers are as follows: shelling of energy facilities by the Russian Federation, accidents in networks, planned repairs in networks, natural phenomena (thunder, storm, flood). The restoration of objects requires specific time, equipment, as well as de-energization for the possibility of carrying out restoration work by energy workers. Disruptions can be:

• Emergency – urgent or local (in case of system accidents or damage due to shelling). In such circumstances, emergency shutdown schedules (HAS), capacity limitation schedules (HPO) are used.
• Stabilization (hourly) – hourly outage schedules (HPO) (in the case of peak loads and the need to balance the power system). Shutdown schedules of GAV, GOP, and GPV are divided into queues to which specific consumers are involved. Planned (for planned repairs). OSR warns consumers about such disconnections in advance.

Why can they not follow the schedule of stabilization shutdowns?

• It takes some time to enable all consumers. All consumers are being gradually connected.
• If the system is unbalanced (there is an excess load on the power system) at the time when it should be switched on, the shutdown period can be extended.
• If an emergency situation occurs, emergency shutdowns are added to stabilization ones, and then the shutdown duration increases and will continue until the emergency is eliminated.

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