Inspections by the State Energy Supervision Inspectorate in 2024 revealed widespread violations in regional electricity distribution.
As Hvylya reports, Oleh Popenko, head of the Union of Consumers of Utilities, disclosed details of the findings on Yuriy Romanenko's YouTube channel.
He highlighted the situation in the Zhytomyr region as particularly telling.
"Zhytomyroblenergo flatly refused to admit representatives of the State Energy Supervision Inspectorate into the dispatch center. They simply said: 'We won't let you in.' They only opened the doors after Zaichenko, the chief dispatcher at the time, threatened to cut off power to the entire region," Popenko recounted.
Once inspectors gained access to the records, it emerged that the city of Zhytomyr was receiving electricity around the clock, while the rest of the region faced blackouts lasting up to 20 hours a day.
"At the time, Sukhomlin was telling everyone: 'We conquered the problem here; everything is fine.' It turned out they hadn't conquered anything—they simply cut off the region for 20 hours and funneled all the power to Zhytomyr. But formally, they met the targets set by Ukrenergo," the expert noted.
Popenko cited other examples of disparity: in Dnipro, outages lasted a mere 4-6 hours, while Kamianske was left without power for 22 hours, and Kryvyi Rih for 18-20 hours.
It was previously reported that the government had adopted four measures to improve the power supply situation.