15% of Ukrainians do not turn on air conditioners at all to support the energy system, but 15% have not reduced energy consumption — survey

As a result of shelling by the Russian occupiers, Ukraine’s power system has suffered significant damage and loss of generating capacity. The electricity currently being produced is not enough for all consumers. Therefore, to balance the power system, we have to resort to scheduled and emergency power outages.

At the same time, almost every iron is calling for economical consumption of electricity during the hours of its availability. In particular, Ukrainians are urged not to turn on powerful household appliances such as air conditioners and boilers to reduce the load on the power grid. Now it is possible to assess the extent to which Ukrainians «hear» such calls.

The Rakuten Viber team conducted an anonymous survey among messenger users (more than 35 thousand participants, key age group — 34-45 years, more than 50% of respondents under 45) to find out whether and how Ukrainians save electricity.

It is noted that 85% of respondents have reduced their energy consumption to support the system. At the same time, 62% of respondents save constantly, and 20% — try to follow the advice on saving, but this is not always possible. At the same time, 8% of respondents have not reduced energy consumption because they do not believe they consume much, and 7% of users do not save because of a lack of time when there is light. Thus, 15% of respondents have not reduced energy consumption.

To the question «Do you save electricity to support the power grid?» answers were distributed as follows:

• Yes, I save — 62% at most;
• I try to follow the advice on saving, but I don’t always succeed — 20%;
• I don’t save because I don’t think I consume much — 8%;
• I don’t save money: I barely have time to do everything when there is —7% light;
• Yes, I save money, but only when I am warned about a consumption limit of — 3%.

Additionally, Ukrainians were asked what they save electricity on the most. It turned out that about half of the respondents (42%) save on everything — air conditioning, electricity, less use of kitchen appliances, etc. Every fifth respondent (18%) unplugs all devices that are not in use. Users also turn on air conditioning (15%) and lights (15%) less or not at all. 9% of respondents reduced the use of kitchen appliances — kettle, stove, dishwasher, etc.

Answers to questions «If you save money, what do you save electricity on in the first place?» were distributed as follows:

• I unplug all devices I don’t use — 18%;
• I turn on the air conditioner less or not at all — 15%;
• I turn on the lights less than 15%;
• I use kitchen appliances less: kettle, stove, dishwasher — 9%;
• I switch the equipment to an energy saving mode of — 1%;
• I regulate the temperature in the refrigerator — less than 1%;
• All of the above and more — 42%.