“Today I resigned from the position of ESO director.
I made the decision not because it was easier.
Not because after I step down thousands of kilometers of cables will be quickly laid in forests and beyond, warehouses will be filled with generators, trees will not be used as supports and wires will not be pulled in overhead lines,” wrote R. Radvila.
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Unfortunately, according to him, in real life everything happens according to a much more complicated scenario.
“It is planned to increase the reserve of generators, to cable the most vulnerable lines faster, to remove dangerous trees.
Very necessary. To be honest, all this was needed not yesterday, but much earlier.
I sincerely believe that changes will happen: work will be done, there will be deadlines, and responsible people will count the kilometers of cables laid, generators, and the light in homes and businesses will turn on much faster. Therefore, I hope that my resignation will not become a convenient full stop in the sentence, after which this page can be closed and calmly wait for the next storm.
Do I feel good? – No.
Could we have moved faster? – I believe it can always be better,” he said.
According to R. Radvila, after the August 22 storm, some people waited too long for electricity.
“Some had to wait not even for electricity, but for a clear answer to a simple question: ‘When will the light be back?’
Our forecasts changed, but people’s refrigerators, water pumps, and farms did not start working.
I’m sorry.
My work with the ESO team is ending, but respect and gratitude to colleagues remain.
Thank you for not counting hours, for working day and night in the fields, forests, mud, darkness, and dangerous conditions.
ESO employees, dispatchers, crews, contractors, municipal colleagues, firefighters, neighbors from Latvia and Poland, utility workers – you restored the network – solved problems that cannot be solved in one storm.
Thank you for every sleepless night, every restored line, and every home where you brought back the light.
I say these words not because I have to thank today. I say them because I saw your work and know how much you gave,” said R. Radvila.
As BNS reported, the ESO board decided on Thursday to accept R. Radvila’s resignation. His last working day will be September 30, announced “Ignitis Group” via the “Nasdaq” exchange.
BNS wrote that after the August 22 storm, electricity supply was disrupted for more than 268 thousand users.
R. Radvila started leading ESO on November 24, 2022, and his term was supposed to end in November 2027.
The ESO board includes independent members Nerijus Datkūnas (chairman) and Eligijus Kajieta, “Ignitis Group” CEO Darius Maikštėnas and its board member Živilė Skibarkienė, a civil servant – representative of the National Crisis Management Center Edmundas Narmontas, and employee representative Dalia Jakutavičė.
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