Klepikovsky District survives nearly a month without electricity and heating

While residents of Ryazan were complaining about snowdrifts during the January holidays, settlements in Klepikovsky District were literally surviving without electricity and heating. In Ryabinovka, Malinovka, Kriusha, and Pilevo, power outages began regularly on January 8, and the situation has not changed to this day.

How people live in Klepikovsky District and what the authorities promise them — in this report from YA62.RU.

«We survive thanks to a generator»

The power was first cut off in Klepikovsky District on January 8, recalls Valeria, a resident of the village of Ryabinovka, in a conversation with a YA62.RU journalist. Since that day, according to her, outages have become daily and lasted on average 4–8 hours, and if electricity was restored, it was not always for long.

«The restorations are brief, sometimes just 5 minutes. During short-term recovery, the voltage doesn»t meet standards — only 160–190 [Volts]. That«s not enough to turn on electrical appliances. We survive thanks to a generator, and we were forced to urgently buy another more powerful one,» says Valeria.

Normal voltage is 220 Volts (plus or minus 10). Low voltage can lead to overheating of electric motors (pumps and refrigerators) and equipment failures, and frequent disruptions often cause fires.

The outages were more or less tolerable until the frosts. But many pumps and boilers that supply heating run on electricity.

«Generators are working overtime. The worst was the first week. As soon as the electricity went out, communication cut off — completely. We couldn»t even reach 112. We drove 15 kilometers away to charge our phones and report the outage!« says the resident of Ryabinovka.

According to her, instead of answers from Ryazanenergo (the local energy company) and the local administration, residents of Klepikovsky District receive only dismissive responses. On social media, representatives of the resource-supplying organization talk about restoring power supply, and in personal communication with people, they insist that no outages have been recorded.

«They write that they»ve restored it, but we have no heating. I call the dispatcher, and they try to convince me that everything is working. The meanest thing is the outages at night, meaning we also have to be on watch 24/7 to know if there«s power or not. In all this time, not a single administration official, Emergency Ministry employee, or Rosseti representative has come to our settlement. They blame snowfalls or frosts that prevent fixing the accident.

I submit requests through the Rosseti website and keep duplicating them until they appear in the emergency table on the site. And a message comes to my email. Otherwise, dispatchers try to convince me they have no data on the outage and it«s not displayed. Good grief, what saves us is a »smart« meter — I photograph it as proof of no electricity,» complains Valeria.

Since 6:30 AM on January 30, residents of Ryabinovka still have no power, and the planned time for fixing the accident is 11:59 PM.

«People suffer there»

Valeria isn«t the only one who wrote to YA62.RU complaining about power disruptions in Klepikovsky District. Sergei told us about several settlements with the exact same problem — Alexeevo, Uzhishchevo, Volchkovo, Koryakino, Lomakino, Myagkovo, Vikulovo, and Milyushevo.

«There are still problems with power. People suffer there [in Klepikovsky District],» writes Sergei to us.

There are no fewer complaints in the comments under posts by Governor Pavel Malkov. Residents ask the head of the region to take personal control of the situation with constant power outages, but he himself hasn«t spoken about it publicly or responded to complaints.

«We»re already exhausted by the constant lack of power! Like in the Stone Age, honestly. Rosseti feed us promises, but in essence, there«s a lack of people and equipment! Crews are working, but to no avail. It»s always emergency outages! It«s been three weeks already! People are freezing in their homes, not everyone has generators. And no one cares about us!» writes Irina.

«Village of Chernoye, Klepikovsky District. Are we going to be without electricity every time it snows? This is already a systemic problem… Please take control, this year we»ve only lived two days without outages, it«s simply outrageous,» complains Anna.

«Village of Lomakino, Klepikovsky District. All we see in the app [»There«s light!»] is postponements of repair deadlines. Sometimes there«s no power at all, sometimes they give it for short intervals. The water supply pipes in the house are frozen, we can»t thaw them, and what if they burst? Who will compensate for the damage?« fumes Alexandra.

These are just messages from the last week. Officials confirm the fact of emergency situations, talk about difficulties in restoration due to snowdrifts, and promise to fix everything. And the outages are explained by trees that fall on power lines under the weight of snow.

But residents of Klepikovsky District are outraged by the regularity of the outages.

What do the authorities and Ryazanenergo say?

The administration of Klepikovsky District rarely responds to complaints where residents report power outages. And when they do, officials refer to Rosseti, without explaining why dangerous trees aren«t removed.

This question was attempted to be answered by a YA62.RU journalist with the press service of Ryazanenergo.

«Outages are related to trees falling on power lines under the weight of snow, not snowfalls. The trees are outside Ryazanenergo»s protection zone; energy workers only clear protection zones — lines in forests,« they stated to us over the phone.

Publicly, Ryazanenergo gave its last response on January 29. They wrote that they are working around the clock to eliminate the consequences of abnormal snowfalls.

«The most affected are the forested areas of Kasimovsky and Klepikovsky districts. Repeated breaks are recorded on sections where restoration work was already underway. The main forces of energy workers are concentrated there, with 41 Ryazanenergo teams involved: 153 specialists, 74 units of special equipment,» was said in the response.

Moreover, the restoration time wasn«t communicated by the organization. Only the standard: »Restoration work will continue uninterrupted until power supply is restored to every consumer.«

And representatives of Ryazanenergo wrote about the work of an operational headquarters. However, no one from Klepikovsky District has seen it. Now people continue to live without electricity, and because of this, they also remain without heat in the frosts. In some houses, pipes are even freezing, and residents are additionally left without water.

How long the emergency outages will continue — neither the administration of Klepikovsky District nor representatives of Ryazanenergo are saying.