Ukrainian Government Grants Supply Security for Consumers of Imported Electricity
On 3 January 2023, the Ukrainian Government approved the Regulation "On Peculiarities of Electricity Imports during the Autumn-Winter Period of 2022/23 under the Legal Regime of Martial Law in Ukraine" (the "Regulation") by its Resolution No. 1. The Resolution regulates the activities of certain electricity market participants related to electricity imports and applies to:
- NPC Ukrenergo (NPC Ukrenergo, TSO)
- Distribution system operators (DSO)
- Electricity suppliers
- Non-household consumers
NPC Ukrenergo will apply restrictions on electricity consumption (except for emergency blackouts) and at the same time increase the volumes of electricity consumption for DSO by the volumes of purchased imported electricity by consumers of such DSO.
Before applying the blackout schedules, DSO must notify NPC Ukrenergo about the consumers that receive imported electricity and the amount of such consumption. In this case the schedules do not apply to them. Upon the electricity supplier's request and within 3 days, the DSO must submit a list of consumers that have an automated commercial electricity metering system and the distribution systems of which are technically capable not to apply various restrictions, including emergency blackout schedules in case of imported electricity supply.
Electricity blackout schedules will not apply to non-household consumers if they import the amount of energy equal to their consumption in September 2022 before the forced electricity supply restrictions. Among the benefits for such consumers is the priority to renew electricity distribution after the special emergency blackouts, the operation of automatic load disconnection and frequency unloading devices. In this case the supply of imported electricity to consumers may be terminated.
In addition, consumers should take measures to reduce electricity consumption by their sub-consumers. For such sub-consumers, blackout schedules will be applied, which will be implemented by the main consumers. If blackout schedules are not followed by such main consumers, the blackout schedules will be applied to them. Another reason to apply such schedules is the non-payment of debts for imported electricity within two days from the date of receipt of the notification.
The National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities and the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine will monitor the implementation of the Resolution.
The Resolution will be in force until 30 April 2023 and, according to the Government, will reduce the disconnections number of consumers.
For more information, please contact Asters' Partner Yaroslav Petrov.
