Olga Babiy is a member of the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC), one of the seven NEURC’s Commissioners. The only woman in the leadership of Ukraine’s Energy Regulator, she oversees licensees’ activities in energy and communal services and coordinates investigations of abuses in wholesale energy markets. For her active participation in implementing the EU Regulation on Energy Markets Integrity and Transparency (REMIT), colleagues and foreign partners call Babiy the “REMIT woman.”
Babiy always supports her visions with arguments, figures, and facts. “I understood that a person holding a public position in the field of energy, and a regulatory body in particular, must have excellent persuasion skills and always offer optimal solutions.”
To our question about her contribution to the reforming of the Ukrainian energy industry, Olha Babiy answers: “Certification of NPC “Ukrenergo” as a Transmission System Operator, which allowed the Ukrainian energy system to synchronize with the unified energy system of continental Europe ENTSO-E at the beginning of the war. And the implementation of the requirements and norms of European Regulation on energy markets integrity and transparency, that will strengthen the independence of the Regulator and prevent abuses.”
Olga says that NEURC started working on this particular reform before the full-scale invasion and engaged international partners, including the USAID Energy Security Project (ESP), which helped with the implementation of almost all reforms implemented by the national regulator.
Olga Babiy met a full-scale invasion in Kyiv. From the first days, she ensured the work of NEURC’s territorial units in all regional centers. It was crucial to save people and equipment, especially where active hostilities began.
“After the victory, I plan to teach in a robust educational institution to pass on the gained experience to the next generations. For me, the great victory will not be the end of active hostilities, but the complete economic recovery and membership of Ukraine in the EU,” – Olga shares with optimism in her voice and a smile on her lips.