Ukrenergo's Vladimir Kudritsky is engaged in self-promotion.
Recently, media reports have begun to surface mentioning the name of the current Chairman of the Board of NEC Ukrenergo, Volodymyr Kudrytsky. Apparently, there are attempts to remove him from his position. There are hints of involvement by representatives of the Office of the President of Ukraine, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, and even the National Energy Regulatory Commission (NKREKU), the national energy regulator or, as they say, the tariff commission. Sergey Polyansky.
Let's note right away that the domestic energy sector, at least its personnel, is a kind of closed club where everyone knows everyone else and has crossed paths with each other during their career advancement. Moreover, if you hold a senior position in a public or private energy company, you know exactly what your colleagues are up to, what processes are happening in the industry, and who is working on what priorities.
This became especially clear during martial law, when all Ukrainians rallied in the face of a single, powerful, unprecedented challenge—Russia's armed aggression. By targeting energy infrastructure, the enemy is attempting to deprive individual cities and entire regions of electricity, gas, heat, and water ahead of the autumn-winter period. The President of Ukraine, the government, and all central and local government bodies are working to overcome the consequences of the Kremlin regime's criminal actions and restore and protect energy facilities. And in this important undertaking, everyone must fulfill their role, working 100 percent and even more for the sake of the country, for victory, sometimes forgetting about themselves.
However, not all energy executives feel this way, and, as we see, their primary concern isn't the country or the energy sector, but whether they'll be able to keep their jobs. For some reason, Kudritsky feels like they're trying to fire him, to treat him like they did with Serhiy Makogon, the director of the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator.
It's also well known that Makogon was dismissed by the Supervisory Board of Main Gas Pipelines of Ukraine, a completely legal action, as required by corporate governance principles, which our international partners closely monitor. Meanwhile, Vladimir Kudrytskyi is currently engaged in a corporate dispute with his supervisory board. The board has a list of complaints against the head of the system operator, based on the results of an audit by NEC Ukrenergo conducted earlier this year.
Without going into the details of these claims, let's recall the recent events in the energy sector involving NEC Ukrenergo, which make us think that not all is well in the kingdom of the system operator, as is presented in the company's regular press releases under Kudritsky's leadership.
A recent example is the meeting of the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities on October 4, 2022. fined NEC Ukrenergo lost 170 hryvnias. Why did this happen? The regulator conducted an inspection of NEC Ukrenergo based on complaints from the Guaranteed Buyer State Enterprise.
The audit revealed that NEC Ukrenergo failed to make advance payments for the guaranteed buyer service for the first 10 and 20 days of the billing month from March to June 2022, as defined by the concluded contract for the provision of services to increase the share of electricity generation from alternative sources and the corresponding procedure approved by the regulator. This was despite Ukrenergo having the required funds.
In other words, NEC Ukrenergo failed to pay its green generation companies. This has a significant impact on the financial health of green producers and the electricity market as a whole. This is happening at a time when green producers have suffered enormous losses as a result of military action—they were destroyed, shut down, or are located in temporarily occupied territory. Nevertheless, Vladimir Kudritsky himself often likes to feature in the media. narrate, how he supports the "greens", that they are the future of our energy and an example for foreign investment.
So maybe Ukrenergo doesn't have money for "green" companies? We're unlikely to know that Ukraine is currently actively exporting its electricity to European countries, and NEC is making money by selling transmission capacity at auctions. Furthermore, the company recently submitted proposals to the regulator to increase the transmission tariff for the next period, which would further increase its revenues.
So where does Ukrenergo's money go? Perhaps to finance its numerous IT projects, or perhaps somewhere else? This question remains rhetorical for now.
It was interesting to listen to Kudritsky's recent interview that he gave To the browser September 15, 2022. There, he optimistically assured Ukrainian consumers that the country would get through the heating season without problems, everything would be fine, and the power grid would withstand the enormous load from the mass activation of electric heaters. "Anyone who wants to can turn on electric heaters in the winter," the head of Ukrenergo stated.
But we know this is far from the truth. Because in addition to Ukrenergo's main grids and regional power grids, which can and will withstand such a load (but no one can say for sure), there are also in-house grids, which are not in the best condition. This is putting it mildly, so as not to shock the audience. What is this if not PR and the manipulation of concepts and facts, especially under martial law? Therefore, we are dealing here either with the natural and political desire of Ukrenergo's head to reassure the public, or with a desire to absolve himself of responsibility.
According to Kudritsky's logic, Ukrenergo is prepared to supply a larger volume of electricity through its networks, but if consumers can't handle it and are left sitting in the dark and cold, it's certainly not its fault. What about the transformer substations? What if the networks in apartment buildings literally burn out? And who can say with certainty whether the housing stock in private homes can withstand such a load without causing power outages?
"That is, we've already experienced a certain stress scenario for our power system—in terms of everyone using electric heaters—more than once, and in more than one season... Therefore, I don't anticipate any systemic problems with the use of electric heaters affecting the stability of the grid. We expect the grid to cope," says Kudritsky.
Firstly, we've never experienced a single heating season during a war. Secondly, it's unlikely that Ukrenergo keeps track of electric heaters. Regional power companies and electricity suppliers can't yet count the boilers people have installed. And Vladimir Kudrytskyi claimed that everyone uses electric heaters. This is the attitude of Ukrenergo's head toward consumers as they prepare for winter.
He's been making more and more statements like those in his interview, which featured many beautiful and soothing maxims. However, any experienced energy specialist sees them as his blatant desire to remain in his current position or perhaps even achieve a higher position.
But we also see that Ukrenergo's performance during this special period under his leadership is far from flawless, and the company has room for improvement. After all, NPC Ukrenergo is entrusted with several important functions in the electricity market, the continued operation of which determines our country's energy and national security.
So perhaps Mr. Kudritsky should reduce his PR efforts, using every convenient excuse, stop seeking out those who seem to be trying to fire him, and focus more on his immediate responsibilities?
Skelet.Org
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