An unprecedented event in the Ukrainian energy sector took place on the evening of May 27. The operating capacity of coal-fired thermal power plants exceeded the generation of nuclear power plants: thermal power plants increased production to 7,243 MW, while at nuclear power plants it fell to 6,663 MW. This was announced by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy and Housing and Utilities Andrei Gerus on his Facebook page.

He has clarified that this happened because the Ministry of Energy forced Energoatom to minimize the operation of its units, whose capacity is 9490 MW, as Dubinsky.pro has informed previously.

“Thus, the restrictions of Energoatom amounted to 2827 MW - this is the capacity of the entire Rivne NPP or 41% more than the capacity of the Khmelnitskyi NPP. In total, there are 9 blocks with restrictions - at all nuclear power plants,” Gerus says.

He is convinced that the restrictions have nothing to do with reducing consumption. They are explained only by coal production, and the desire of the head of the Ministry of Energy Olga Boguslavets and Prime Minister Denis Shmygal to help build up the business of coal oligarch Rinat Akhmetov.

“In simple words. The state enterprise "Energoatom", which is owned by the people of Ukraine, is limited. And the operation of coal TPPs is increasing. 70% of them are owned by Akhmetov’s DTEK. And such a redistribution of the market happens not because Energoatom lost the competition, but because there were officials who decided to manually redistribute the market in favor of private (expensive) structures,” Gerus says.

As it is known, thermal energy is far more expensive than nuclear energy, therefore it is worth giving priority to nuclear power plants. Especially now, when the Ukrainian economy is weakened by the consequences of the coronavirus epidemic, and will not withstand another increase in electricity tariffs. However, Shmygal’s government is more motivated to lobby the interests of the oligarch Akhmetov. People with a worsening financial situation are not offered public utility discounts; tariffs for electricity and water (its price directly depends on the price of electricity) have been raised since July 1.

Clear protectionism is evident, and corruption cannot be excluded. It’s time for law enforcement to start an investigation.

“It's like football when “a team” cannot win against its rival, it bribes a judge. The referee removes two players from the opposing team and then “the team” wins the cup. It has nothing to do with fair competition. I will personally try to support fair competition in all possible ways. I really don’t want anyone to be on the run again and write about political persecution on Facebook, it’s better to learn from others’ mistakes,” Gerus emphasizes.

Andrey Pshenichny for the site dubinsky.pro