Power Outage Schedules Caused by Low Price Caps in Electricity Market – Former Head of Ukrenergo

Vladimir Kudritsky, the former head of the National Energy Company Ukrenergo, has raised concerns regarding the upcoming scheduled power outages in Ukraine, which are set to affect both industrial and residential consumers. He believes these outages are a direct result of decisions made by the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities (NERC) to impose price caps on the electricity market. According to Kudritsky, these regulatory measures hinder the import of electricity and the effective utilization of gas generation.

Since the beginning of April, NERC has established maximum electricity prices for non-household consumers that complicate the possibility of importing electricity from the European Union and operating distributed gas generation. In a post on Facebook, Kudritsky emphasized, "The decision made by these individuals (NERC) has set the maximum electricity prices for non-household consumers at a level that does not allow for the majority of hours to utilize imports from the EU and does not permit distributed gas generation to operate during most hours."

Furthermore, Kudritsky pointed out that the current level of electricity consumption in Ukraine, given the existing weather conditions, is relatively low, and therefore cannot justify the introduction of power outages. He compared the price restrictions on electricity to those on fuel, warning that such actions could lead to severe consequences for the market.

"To put it into perspective, NERC took a step similar to setting a maximum price for diesel at gas stations at 50 UAH/liter. Electricity would disappear just as diesel would vanish instantly," Kudritsky explained, highlighting the gravity of the situation.

He also noted that a similar situation was observed this winter when the import of electricity from the EU was artificially restrained due to administratively set prices, leading to prolonged outages lasting 16 to 18 hours per day.

According to information provided by Ukrenergo, on Friday, April 3, power limitation schedules (GOP) will be applied across all regions of Ukraine from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM for industrial consumers, while hourly disconnection schedules (GPV) will be in effect for all consumer categories from 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM. The reasons for these restrictions are attributed to the consequences of missile and drone attacks by Russia on energy facilities in Ukraine.

It is important to recall that during an extraordinary meeting on January 16, NERC set maximum price caps for electricity in the day-ahead market (RDN) and intraday market (VDR) at 15,000 UAH/MWh for the day and 16,000 UAH/MWh for the balancing market (BR). These changes came into effect on January 18 and will remain in place until March 31, 2026. Previously, much lower price caps had been in effect since July 31, 2025.

Kudritsky also highlighted that the low price caps and the cancellation of preferential gas rates for electricity producers, particularly in cogeneration plants, have contributed to the stagnation of distributed generation development. He noted that out of the 1.5 GW of distributed generation announced by the government for 2026, only 300-400 MW may be realized, which serves as a troubling signal for Ukraine's energy sector.