Hot weather forces Kiev to technical assistance import from Russia

The Ukraine has asked Russia to supply 600 MW of electricity in technical assistance mode. The reason was a sharp jump in the consumption because of the hot weather against the background of the repair of 5.5 GW of nuclear and thermal power plants and the stop of coal plants after termination of fuel supplies from the Donbas. According to the Kommersant’s information, "emergency imports" is by about a third more expensive than the commercial shipments. Last July, in a similar situation Kiev was forced to return to the commercial contract with Inter RAO UES, but now it has no such possibility: the parties didn’t renew the contract for 2016.

The Ukraine has been forced to return to the import of electricity from Russia. As the Interfax reported on Friday, referred to its sources, Kiev asked the Russian Federation to supply 600 MW of electricity in the framework of the technical assistance mode. System Operator UES (manager of the Unified Energy System of Russia) confirmed this to the Kommersant, added that 600 MW is the maximum amount of the supply in the mode of the technical assistance. System Operator doesn’t call duration of the supply and the price of electricity (according to the Kommersant’s information, for a while, it could be a few days). The Kommersant’s source specifies that the last time the Ukraine carried out the electricity export in this mode "about a year ago". The Ukraine bought electricity because of the lack of coal for thermal power plants last July. Inter RAO UES (operator of the electricity export and import in the Russian Federation) declined to comment.