Odesa allocated 18 million for fuel for boiler house generators

In Odesa, even working boiler houses do not provide heat due to a lack of generators and DTEK's disconnection. The city has allocated more than UAH 18 million for fuel for autonomous energy sources, but the problem leaves hundreds of homes without heat.

At a meeting of the standing committee on housing and communal services of Odesa City Council, the chairman of the committee , Oleksandr Ivanitskiy, raised the issue of the critical situation with heat supply in the city.

He emphasized that the cold in Odesa's homes is caused not only by shelling and energy terror, but also by the lack of generators for district heating stations and boiler rooms, which the city has not been able to provide over the four years of war.

According to Ivanytskyi, while cafes, restaurants and service stations are quickly being equipped with generators, the residential sector remains vulnerable. The allocated 18.7 million hryvnias will be used to purchase fuel for the uninterrupted operation of generators in the boiler rooms of the Odesa City Heating Company, of which 4.8 million are allocated from the state budget and 13.9 million from the city budget.

The deputies also discussed technical difficulties: not all district heating companies can install generators, it is unclear where to store them and who will be responsible for their operation. Today, there are more than 170 generators in Odesa, but their capacity and location do not yet allow for heating in all buildings.

Mr. Ivanitsky also emphasized that the critical situation is caused by DTEK's power outages: the heat carrier reaches the boiler house but does not reach the subscribers, which is why people are freezing in their apartments. The company is currently auditing and inventorying generators and working on balancing capacities and allocating them to critical facilities, including schools and hospitals.

In addition, the changes to the program provide for incentives for employees of utility companies who participated in the construction of fortifications in eastern Ukraine. Subventions from the state budget are provided for this purpose.

In January, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to allocate UAH 2.56 billion from the state budget reserve fund for the purchase of mobile generation systems. Odesa region will also receive the equipment. The equipment will be purchased directly from manufacturers, including equipment that is already available in warehouses in Europe.

Анна Бальчінос