How reviewing the list of critical enterprises affects schedules and electricity shortages | Ukrainian News

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced The possibility of reducing power outages for the population from December 24. This was to happen due to the redistribution of up to 1 GW of electricity, which enterprises unjustifiably classified as critical infrastructure had been receiving throughout the full-scale war. The problem was noticed two years ago, but has not yet been solved.The audit of critical consumers is one of the few methods that still remain in the government's arsenal to improve the energy supply situation. Why it was not introduced earlier and whether it will be effective – we found out. LIGA.net.A critically old problemSince the emergence of an electricity deficit in Ukraine, there has been a need to prioritize its supply to the most important enterprises. These include military facilities, water utilities, public transport, etc. But as soon as the authorities introduced the easing of restrictions, commercial companies also took advantage of them.As early as April 2022, the Ministry of Energy provided Local military administrations have the right to prohibit electricity providers from disconnecting a very wide range of enterprises from electricity. In addition to, for example, government bodies, telecommunications companies, medical facilities, and heat producers, these also include suppliers of food, medicine, and household goods.Due to unclear criteria for defining critical enterprises, even hotels were using a continuous power supply as recently as December 2023. explained in an interview with the publication "LB" at that time, the chairman of the board of Ukrenergo, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi. It was then that it became known about cancellation of the order of the Ministry of Energy.Kudrytskyi announced that enterprises unjustifiably designated as critical would begin to be disconnected from electricity."We will propose creating new lists. And they will only include those enterprises that truly cannot be disconnected under any circumstances," Kudrytskyi promised. But the issue remained unresolved.Read alsoAndriy Gerus: "Russia's number one goal is to put out Kyiv, a blackout of Ukraine is more difficult"The obvious reason is that the conditions for obtaining the right to an uninterrupted power supply were changed piecemeal and did not become more transparent. The current regulatory acts of the Cabinet of Ministers (CMU) provide for several ways. For example, through the status of a "protected consumer". According to the relevantin order, the company must independently submit a request to the special Interdepartmental Commission under the government.This body verifies the appropriateness of granting protected status to applicants. However, no clear selection rules have been established for the Commission.In parallel with this, in May 2024, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted another resolution No.600, which assigned the responsibility of compiling a list of critical enterprises to regional and Kyiv state administrations.Due to martial law, information about critical infrastructure facilities and protected consumers is not published in the public domain.Of the more than 5,000 enterprises that have received protected status, about 3,000 are not related to critical infrastructure, said Volodymyr Omelchenko, director of energy programs at the Razumkov Analytical Center. Among them are "shopping malls, beauty salons, hotels" and even a circus. enumerated He.In a comment to LIGA.net, Omelchenko noted that he did not have direct access to the lists, and the information he published was obtained from insiders.The Cabinet of Ministers continued to delay changing its approach to selecting critical enterprises until the winter of 2025, when the energy supply situation became one of the most critical of the entire full-scale war.And at that moment, reducing the number of critical enterprises was seen as a way to reduce the duration of power outages for all other consumers.On December 9, 2025, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko reported on instructing regional military administrations to review the "actual" lists of critical facilities within two days. In a week, it statedAs a result of the audit, it was found possible to "free up" from 800 MW to 1 GW of electricity that was supplied to critical enterprises.Read alsoVoltage surges. Why are the outages so long right now, and will the government's actions help?Who was disconnected from the power?According to Svyrydenko's statement, it was not specific enterprises that were excluded from the "actual" lists of critical enterprises with the right to priority electricity supply, but two separate groups.The first of these are consumers with a connected capacity of less than 100 kW. However, they were not entitled to an uninterrupted power supply before, according to the government decree.Therefore, the change announced by the Cabinet of Ministers can only consist of forcing military administrations to implement a long-standing decision. The government did not explain why this had not been done before.The second group is "objects to which a number of other consumers, who are subject to general restrictions, were connected." In particular, this refers to the long-discussed issue of high-rise buildings that are on the same power line as critical infrastructure, Volodymyr Omelchenko confirmed in a comment to LIGA.net.Since 2022, power grid operators (or distribution system operators, known as regional power distribution companies) have been transferring buildings connected to critical infrastructure to general power lines.In June 2024, at DTEK Kyiv Electric Networks statedIn the very first year, they managed to reduce the number of houses connected to the critical network from almost 1500 to 510. The company claimed that there was no technical possibility to transfer the rest to other lines.However, the State Inspectorate for Energy Supervision of Ukraine, which is responsible for monitoring electricity market participants, continued to insist on the need to complete the procedure.Did the shifts begin after Yulia Svyrydenko's order this December?Even before Christmas, some non-core establishments in Kyiv, such as supermarkets, began to be disconnected from the uninterrupted power supply, Artur Zaporozhets, deputy director of the Institute of General Energy, shared his observation with us.LIGA.net contacted Anatoliy Zamulko, the acting head of the State Energy Supervision, with a request to explain how the Cabinet of Ministers' decision on uninterrupted power supply to non-critical consumers is being implemented. However, he refused to provide an immediate comment by phone.Read alsoDoubling or tripling. Top 5 largest electricity sellers in Ukraine in 2025Will the power outages be reduced?Even if the measures announced by the government were fully implemented, the latest Russian shelling on the night of December 24 would have negated their potential positive effect, believes Volodymyr Omelchenko.However, he considers the Prime Minister's assessment of the released capacity of up to 1 GW, which was obtained by reducing the number of critical enterprises, to be quite possible.That's a lot. For comparison, this amount of energy is twice as much. exceeds the needs of, for example, the Khmelnytskyi region alone.But still not enough to cover the power deficit at the national level. For assessment According to Gennadiy Ryabtsev, director of special projects at the Psychea Scientific and Technical Center, with four stages of shutdown schedules, the shortage reaches 4 GW.After the restoration of the energy infrastructure, the redistribution of 1 GW of electrical capacity from critical enterprises to all other consumers may affect the duration of outages, but only slightly, states Omelchenko from the Razumkov Centre. "If there were 4 stages, there will be 3.5," he believes.Omelchenko proposes another measure related to critical infrastructure that could simplify the situation with power outages in Kyiv.In the capital, a large number of state-owned companies and institutions with protected status consume a lot of electricity but do not perform critical functions."We need to consider switching ministries, agencies, and offices of state-owned companies that do not work directly for defense or produce energy, like Energoatom and Naftogaz, to [scheduled power outages]," Omelchenko suggests.Even if the audit of critical enterprises is successful, there remains a risk that in the future, companies that do not have sufficient grounds for it will again be included in the lists of protected consumers. The Cabinet of Ministers did not change the relevant legislation and the conditions for selecting critical facilities, but decided to revise the lists "manually," agrees Volodymyr Omelchenko.The task of improving the mechanism was a priority in the action plan for 2025 under Denys Shmyhal's government, Hennadiy Ryabtsev emphasized in a comment to LIGA.net. Then it was excluded from the plan, the expert says."The procedure needs to be legalized. But its implementation on the ground will depend on the quality of public administration. Our government's vertical power structure doesn't work very well, and each region has its own interests and connections," Omelchenko concludes.

"There were 4 queues – now there will be 3.5." How reviewing critical facilities affects the electricity supply

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