Blackouts could be applied at least until late March - energy official

It is likely that Ukraine will be facing rolling blackouts throughout winter and until late March.

That’s according to Serhiy Kovalenko, CEO at Yasno, a Ukrainian power provider, reports Ukrinform.

"Today we again have various outages: we started with a stabilization schedule, but in the afternoon we received new restrictions from Ukrenergo and we are also shutting power down urgently. Max restrictions for today are 391 MW, more than 953,000 customers have been disconnected. Despite the bad weather, energy companies are now trying their best to complete the restoration before even greater cold. And although there have been fewer power outages now, I’d like everyone to understand: most likely, Ukrainians will have to live in the mode of power outages at least until the end of March," Kovalenko wrote.

According to the CEO, if there are no new attacks on the power grid, under the current conditions of power generation, the deficit can be evenly distributed throughout the country, which means that blackouts will be everywhere, but less long.

However, he noted that there are also different outlooks, which are entirely dependent on Russia's attacks.

"For example, there’s a positive one: there are no new attacks, the previous level of generation returns. Then, quite likely, we will have enough power, so we can drop blackouts altogether. A negative scenario will come in the case that the network will be severely damaged as a result of attacks. Then we will have to use not only hourly stabilization outages, but also emergency ones, during which there may be very long blackouts," Kovalenko wrote.

He emphasized that people should be prepared for various options, even the worst ones.

"Stock up on warm clothes, blankets, think about options that will help you wait out a long outage. It's better to do it now than to worry and blame someone later. Moreover, we all know who is really to blame," added CEO Yasno.

As reported by Ukrinform, the deputy head of the Ukrainian President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko assured that Ukrainians should not flee the country due to a possible blackout throughout Ukraine, as he hopes that there will be no general blackout.