Ukrenergo - the national grid operator of Ukraine - said that electricity usage has increased by 13% as the country enters the cold spell.
RT reported that the Ukrainian government is asking people to save electricity, while warning that skyrocketing consumption in bad weather is putting too much pressure on the national grid. The country's power infrastructure was destroyed by Russian airstrikes in retaliation for the Crimea bridge attack in 2022.
The call was made by Ukrenergo on January 8. The grid operator said that the electricity used at noon on January 8 exceeded the previous working day by more than 13%.
According to the operator, the cause of the sudden increase was not only due to the beginning of the working week but also due to low temperatures and bad weather in the southern areas, causing power outages.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is expected to experience a period of extremely cold weather, with temperatures dropping to minus 27 degrees Celsius in some areas. According to the Ministry of Energy, as of January 8, more than 157,000 consumers have been affected by power outages.
Ukrenergo called out: " guys, the electricity consumption is increasing too much. Please save electricity".
To convince Ukrainians, Ukrenergo posted two photos of a sad cat on his Telegram account - one small, symbolizing the data of January 5, and the other much more detailed, symbolizing January 8 - with a sketch of the animal's electricity consumption chart.
It is necessary to help Grafik cats stay healthy, said the grid operator, adding that Ukrainians can do this by turning off lights, avoiding the simultaneous use of heavy household appliances and removing the Plug-ins when fully charged.
Ukraine's power grid is still affected by Russian attacks that began in the fall of 2022. In November 2022, Kiev estimated that the attacks had destroyed about half of the country's energy infrastructure.
In early January 2023, Vladimir Kudritsky, chairman of Ukrenergo, called the scale of the damage unprecedented and predicted that it would take months, if not years, to repair.
Ukrainian authorities reported new attacks on the power grid in early January. Power outages affected hundreds of thousands of people after Russia vowed to retaliate against Kiev's attacks on Belgorod and Donetsk, killing dozens of civilians, including children.
Moscow has repeatedly affirmed that it has only carried out attacks on Ukrainian military facilities and supporting infrastructure.
