Shopping centres in the regions are experiencing difficulties with connecting to imported electricity

Iryna Kruppa, General Director of the multifunctional complex Gulliver (Kyiv), said that the MFC consumes an average of about 3.5 MW of electricity in winter.
"In addition to the outages, there are also restrictions in Kyiv for large facilities, which is 1.5 MW per month for us. In any case, we need to connect generators even up to this volume, which seems to be our limit. A very good solution to this situation is to sign a contract for imported electricity, and we were one of the first to take advantage of this opportunity," she said.
According to I. Kruppa, in October, Ukrainian tariffs were UAH 7.06, plus distribution – UAH 0.92, while the import tariff was UAH 10.49.
"We use a mixed tariff, we are allowed to consume 20% of Ukrainian electricity and 80% of imported electricity, the weighted average tariff in Gulliver MFC in October was UAH 8.72 per 1 kWh, including VAT. There is information that starting from the new year, probably in December, it will be possible to take Ukrainian electricity – 40%, and 60% – imported, then this tariff will decrease," she said.
The MFC also has four generators with a total capacity of 2 MW, which is enough to cover all consumption, except for partial ventilation and air conditioning. As of today, the cost of electricity from a diesel generator is 12.6 UAH/kWh. According to her, even with the projected December tariff of 11.0-12.0 UAH/kWh including VAT on imports, the weighted average tariff will be more profitable than generating energy using diesel generators.
For her part, Natalia Kravets, commercial director of Dragon Capital PM, believes that there is no point in connecting the company's facilities in Kyiv (Smart Plaza Obolon, Piramida, Aladdin, Karavan) to imports.
"They don't have a separate power line (a condition for connecting imports – IF-U). To make this separate line, you need to invest millions," she clarified.
At the same time, she said that so far it had been possible to reach an agreement for Victoria Gardens shopping centre. "In Lviv, no commercial facility can agree with the regional power company on electricity imports, which is surprising for us. But, unfortunately, it is a fact," she stated.
The Budhouse Group has not yet decided whether to connect its Lviv facility, the shopping centre Forum, to electricity imports. At the same time, the shopping centre Lubava (Cherkasy) and Nikolsky shopping centre (Kharkiv) are using the resource. According to Maxim Gavriushin, Chief Operating Officer of the Budhouse Group, this service increases the cost of energy supply by UAH 0.60-0.65 compared to the Ukrainian one.
He also noted that all shopping centres of the Budhouse Group are equipped with generators, and this year their capacity has been further increased.
"If there are problems with power supply for a day or two, there is no point in switching to imported electricity. Then we just use diesel generators to get through these short periods. However, if we already understand that the outages or restrictions are long, then it makes sense to switch to imported electricity. The good thing is that it is very easy to do, easy to stop and very easy to resume then. That is, you can regulate it in two or three days of these switchings," M. Havriushyn said.
Natalia Antonenko, CEO of the Port City Group, said that Port City shopping centre (Lutsk) consumes 1.5 MW in winter. "The entire volume is completely replaced by generators. Of course, they cannot work all the time. Imports are a solution for us, we have a separate line. But today it is more difficult to connect in regional centres than in cities with a population of over a million. Unfortunately, today the regional power distribution companies do not give us their consent," N. Antonenko said.
Angela Borysova, general manager of Alef Estate commercial centre (Dnipro), said that their facilities cannot be connected to imports because they include housing.
"We have chosen cogeneration. I really hope that in the spring we will switch to this alternative option," she said.