Residents and HOAs to blame: why some buildings were left without heat during the winter

The head of the municipal utility “Mykolaivoblteploenergo” Mykola Logvinov during a press conference March 25, 2026 explained why some buildings in the city remained without heat during the heating season. According to him, one of the key reasons is poor preparation of buildings for winter by condominium associations (OSBB) and housing cooperatives. According to the head of the enterprise, residents and managers often postpone preparatory work until the last moment — sometimes even until September or October, when the heating season is already supposed to start. This, he says, leads to malfunctions in the systems and problems with the circulation of the heat carrier.

Another reason was power supply outages. Because of blackouts, boiler houses had to be constantly restarted, which disrupted the stability of the system’s operation.

“Any boiler house, if it does not have a permanent power source or in case of blackouts, even when switching from synchronized power supply to a generator, needs to be shut down and turned on, started. This, roughly speaking, means the heating season begins anew. In some buildings we started the boilers 107 times during the heating season. Standard operation of a boiler house – you turn it on on November 1 and turn it off on April 1. And there are boiler houses that are constantly being yanked back and forth”, – Logvinov noted.

Another reason is ruptures in the networks and water losses. The enterprise emphasizes that specially treated and prepared water is used, and its loss complicates the operation of the entire system.

According to the head, about 95% of emergency situations during the heating season occurred on internal building networks, not on the heat supplier’s side. This led to leaks, boiler house shutdowns and prolonged restoration of heat supply. Separately, Mykola Logvinov emphasized that responsibility for heat in the buildings lies not only with the enterprise but also with the network balance holders:

“There are no ‘bad’ or ‘good’ ones here. There is a task, there is an instruction. If you do not know how to do something – read the instruction. That is the most important thing. And this should be mandatory for everyone. Preparation for the heating season – is the responsibility not only of the one who supplies heat, but also of the network balance holder of the buildings”, – emphasized Mykola Logvinov.

Earlier we wrote:

• “I consider this heating season the best in recent years”, – Senkevych
• In Mykolaiv heating will be suspended in the coming days due to warm weather
• Senkevych promises uninterrupted heating for apartment buildings as early as next winter
• In Mykolaiv the fee for heat for buildings damaged by shelling will be recalculated
• A debt pit of 323 million: Mykolaiv residents are being taken to court over unpaid heat