News date: 7 December 2020
The dispute resolution team of Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm defended the interests of the leading Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturer in connection with the supply of poor-quality electric power by Bila Tserkva District Unit of PrJSC Kyivoblenergo, which resulted in the breakdown of the company’s electrical equipment.
Because of the emergency that occurred in May 2019 in connection with the overvoltage at the company’s transformer substation, the transformer, server and refrigeration equipment of the pharmaceutical plant got seriously damaged. The company also incurred significant additional costs to rectify the consequences of the accident.
The pharmaceutical manufacturer filed a lawsuit against Kyivoblenergo aiming to recover the material damage and the lost profit, as well as to compensate for the cost of the equipment and the damaged products. The Client’s interests in the Commercial Court of Kyiv Region in case No. 911/2971/19 were represented by Сounsels Valeriia Gudiy and Oleh Trokhymchuk.
Disputes related to the poor power quality are extremely complex and difficult to prove. In confirmation of the poor-quality distribution of electrical energy on the part of Kyivoblenergo, the team of Ilyashev & Partners managed to gather an exhaustive volume of evidence and facilitated the performance of the required expert examinations.
“The quality of electric power can be tested only by special measuring devices installed on the electricity-generating equipment of the system operator, – points out Valeriia Gudiy. – No such devices had been installed at the high-voltage substation from which electricity was supplied to the pharmaceutical manufacturer. As a result, the system operator took a convenient position: no devices – no evidence. Therefore, prior to lodging a claim, the attorneys had invested a tremendous amount of effort to collect the evidence base as to the fact of over-the-limit energy supply to the electrical installation. We are proud of the results of this work: all possible factors were ruled out, except for the fault of Kyivoblenergo, which could affect the overvoltage that caused the operation failure of our Client’s electrical equipment”.
In July 2020, the Commercial Court of Kyiv Region fully upheld the claims of the pharmaceutical manufacturer. In September 2020, Kyivoblenergo decided against filing an appeal, entered into an amicable agreement with the pharmaceutical manufacturer and reimbursed for the damages caused.