Data according to which the restoration of the damages in the electricity supply in the areas that were affected by the recent snowstorm was fast both in relation to the severity of the phenomenon, and compared to last year from the passage of “Medea”, as in Mati , after the fires, the Minister of Environment and Energy, Costas Skrekas, submitted to the Parliament.
In his speech on the motion of censure, Mr. Skrekas stressed that this discussion is an opportunity to discuss what has been achieved in the country in the last two years, but also what will be done by the government in the near future and In this context, he referred to the recruitments that have been launched at HEDNO and to the undergrounding works of the electricity network.
Regarding the bad weather, Mr. Skrekas stressed that it is a reality that the extremely heavy snowfall that hit the country in the previous days, put at its limits the operational capability of HEDNO. Specifically, according to the minister, failures were caused in 79 medium voltage lines, while at the peak of the phenomenon we had 200,000 out-of-electricity supplies in 40 Municipalities of Attica. In a few hours and until Tuesday morning, about 50% of the faults had been repaired, while with the efforts of HEDNO employees the night of the same day and within 24 hours from the start of the phenomenon, the current returned to 97.5% of cases and all this I have to say – he noted – with great difficulty in access, due of course to the heavy snowfall. In order to deal with these damages, more than 900 personnel and crews were mobilized, apart from the Attica force from Patras, Nafplio, Argos, Evia, Thebes, Chalkida, Trikala, Thessaloniki and other areas of Greece. While at the same time there were two other fronts that had caused the phenomenon of extreme severity in central Greece and Evia but also on the islands.
Specifically, Mr. Skrekas stated that the islands of the Sporades as well as Andros, Tinos and Tzia had been reinforced with additional forces to deal with possible problems and to ensure the adequacy of forces so that we do not depend on the prohibition of departure. In 2021 the Sporades had been left without electricity for more than 24 hours while in 2020 Andros and Tinos had remained more than 8 and 12 hours respectively, while this year there was only a short incident in Andros, which was restored. In Evia and in central Greece there was this year, there were extensive damages in a large number of settlements that left without electricity in parallel with Attica an additional 30,000 households. However, by Tuesday, late at night on Wednesday morning, 99.5% of the cases had been restored and the crews had come to assist in Attica.
After quoting the Minister of Environment and Energy, he addressed the Opposition, saying: “But who can really assess whether the intervention of HEDNO forces in the rehabilitation was effective when there were sporadic points that were left without electricity three and four in exceptional cases 24 hours? Let me tell you here that last year in Medea 70,000 households in Attica faced problems with electricity in 15 municipalities.In four days the supply was restored to 95% of the households while on the fifth day the restoration had reached 99%. That is, this year we had 2.5 times more houses without electricity and the electricity was restored in half a year compared to last year and with twice the volume of snowfall “.
Asked if there had been failures in repairing and managing the damage, Mr Skrekas acknowledged that “obviously there would have been” and said that “no one can be satisfied when there is even one house left with three or four left”. days without electricity “. However, he added that what this government received from HEDNO two years ago must be taken into account. He cited the “corresponding emergency situation” as an example, as he described the fire in Mati. There – as he informed – there are 7,500 supplies and while there was damage to only three medium voltage lines, it took seven whole 24 hours for the last resident to be able to get electricity.
“This is for comparisons,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Environment and Energy continues to work to further improve the situation in both the state apparatus and the supervised agencies.
Regarding HEDNO, he said that in order to support “the most capable human resources” and to strengthen young people who will take the baton from the old ones, 764 people have been announced in 2021 and an additional 370 positions will be announced in the first quarter of 2022. Also. 70 projects worth 18.5 million euros were started for the undergrounding of 200 kilometers of air network, many of which have already been completed, while projects are in progress in Western Greece and the islands with a budget of 16.5 million. In 2022, 100 million euros are planned to be invested in the undergrounding of 1,000 kilometers of air network and in 2023, 150 million for the undergrounding of 1,500 kilometers of air network.
“Let me give you an example of the situation that HEDNO was in when we received it? It had no poles. In 2018, HEDNO bought 18,700 poles. In 2020, 75,300 poles and in 2021 89,600. What does this mean that investments in “It concerns the replacement of the aerial network, its modernization, the new interconnections that are being made, its upgrade”, said Mr. Skrekas. He also added that the alalum that existed for who has the responsibility of pruning the trees was put an end to by legislation. He specifically informed that on Christmas Eve a provision was passed which gives the possibility to HEDNO to proceed with deep pruning in dangerous standing trunks on both sides of the electricity distribution network only with 15 days notice to the relevant forest office. “We saw, for example, that in northern Attica, where deep pruning had taken place in the previous period, there were almost zero problems, while last year the main volume of problems was identified there,” he said.
Finally, Mr. Skrekas informed that the tender for the supply of 7.7 million smart meters has started so that we can finally find out who has electricity and who does not because, as he stressed at the moment, in order to find out if a house is electrified, one must visit it. . “We received these after five years that SYRIZA was in the government and we are trying to correct them very quickly, as we do,” concluded the competent minister.
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