Crimea and Sevastopol may already be without electricity supplies from Ukraine on Tuesday, 4 August. "According to information from the NEC of Ukraine, a reduction in capacity in the power networks of the Republic of Crimea is possible due to the acute electricity imbalance in the Ukrainian power grid," the press center of the government of occupied Sevastopol said, the Interfax news agency reports.
The city’s emergency services intend to supply electricity to Sevastopol from local power generating sources.
Ukraine raised the price of electricity for the occupied Crimea by 14.4% to RUB 3.42 per kWh on 1 July. Russia and Ukraine signed two agreements on supply of electricity from Russia to Ukraine and from Ukraine to the Crimea in late 2014. Both agreements are valid until the end of 2015.
Thirteen mobile gas turbines were moved from Sochi and the Moscow region to the Crimea in 2014 for emergency power supplies and establishment of an operational reserve capacity. The Russian Energy Ministry plans to lay underwater cables with a capacity of 300 MW under the Kerch Strait in 2016.
