Crimea's federal city of Sevastopol is getting prepared for Ukraine’s possible move to stop electricity supplies, Governor Sergey Menyailo said on Wednesday.
“Sevastopol is fully ready for emergency situations. All the protective measures have been taken,” Menyailo said, adding however he hopes that Ukraine’s energy company Ukrinterenergo will not take “such a thoughtless step.”
Sevastopol’s 217 diesel generators and three gas-turbine stations are ready and the city thermal power station has been modernized to reduce the city’s dependence on Ukrainian power.
The governor has warned that in case of power cutoffs, a rotating blackout regime may be introduced in Sevastopol and in particular, street lighting may be partially switched off.
“However, hospitals, kindergartens, schools, law enforcement structures and life-supporting facilities will not be cut off power,” Menyailo stressed.
He reminded that Sevastopol is paying for electricity to Ukrainian suppliers on time and in full amount.
Ukrinterenergo announced on Tuesday that amid the lack of fuel at power stations the power flow to the Crimean energy system will be decreased to certain limits of between 300 MW (in morning and evening rush hours) to 600 MW (at night).
The Russian government allocated over 5.1 billion rubles ($115 million) in August in compensation for companies’ spending on ensuring reliable power supplies in Crimea.