First Deputy Director General, Chief Engineer of the Belarusian national energy company Belenergo Vladimir Bobrov talked about prospects of expanding the use of electricity for heating, hot water supply, and cooking in BelTA's press center on 25 May.

According to the source, it takes about 1.5 years to reconstruct the power grid in an area. Design work has to be done first. It is followed by the completion of all administrative procedures. Then construction and installation work begins to replace wires and reinforce bearing structures. Residents of populated localities where access to central heating and gas mains is unavailable are polled to find out their interest in using electricity for heating, hot water supply, and cooking. Results of the poll are taken into account in the course of designing the power grid. Power grids are built and reconstructed without focusing on using electricity for heating, hot water supply, and cooking in places where access to central heating and gas mains is available.

According to the Belenergo representative, the company is also asked to reconstruct power grids in areas where power lines are in quite a good shape and where there are people, who are interested in using electricity for heating, hot water supply, and cooking. Legislation has been drafted to address the issue and is going through reconciliation procedures. The legislation will allow citizens, who are interested in getting their power grids reconstructed, to contribute financially to the reconstruction work. A similar approach is used for building gas mains, the official noted.