Power Outages Could Leave Apartment Buildings Without Heat This Winter

Preparing for the Heating Season

According to ХВИЛЯ: Serhiy Kovalenko, CEO of the YASNO energy company, has urged Ukrainians to actively prepare for the upcoming winter heating season. He warned that a primary risk is the loss of heating in multi-story buildings due to power outages that shut down circulation pumps. In many high-rises, heating fluid cannot reach the upper floors without these electric pumps. If a blackout lasts more than 18 hours, the entire heating system can fail, leading to severe consequences for residents.

Statistics from last winter's preparations reveal concerningly low readiness: only about one-third of the housing stock, including condominium associations (OSBB) and property management companies, entered the season with backup power for pumps and elevators. This is alarming, as a lack of heat during freezing weather poses a critical danger to people's well-being.

We should fear not the loss of electricity, but the loss of heat. When you have no power, you can always think of something; it's uncomfortable, but you can survive it. The absence of heat is extremely difficult to endure when it's minus 20 degrees Celsius outside.

- Serhiy Kovalenko

Support Programs and Ongoing Challenges

Municipal programs in Ukraine offer compensation for equipment like generators and inverters, as well as interest-free loans to improve winter readiness. However, even with active repairs to damaged power stations, forecasts for the national energy grid remain cautious. The country's energy infrastructure has been severely impacted by the ongoing war, making resilience a top priority.

I think that even if we restore the currently damaged generation facilities, during peak hours we will still be a country with a deficit in terms of our own generation... Imported power remains and will be a major component of our energy balance.

- Serhiy Kovalenko

Preparations for the heating season are growing increasingly urgent amid Ukraine's broader energy security challenges. With reduced domestic generation capacity and reliance on imports, ensuring backup power for residential buildings is critical. Given the problems experienced previously, Ukrainians are advised to heed expert recommendations and actively utilize available support programs to boost the energy resilience of their homes.