Numerous places near Zagreb spent Christmas Eve in the dark: ‘We are afraid, this is not the first time’

– Every time it snows, strong winds blow or there is a storm, the entire settlement, which has more than 300 inhabitants, remains without electricity. The reason for this is the long-term non-maintenance of the route under the power grid under the jurisdiction of HEP ODS. Trees and plants have grown to such an extent that during storms they fall on power lines, which regularly causes interruptions in the supply of electricity – the reader told us.

The last major interruption occurred on November 22, 2025. year, when the electricity went out in the afternoon. For a short time, as he said, she returned for only two hours, and then disappeared again from 6:00 p.m. on November 22. until 9:00 a.m. on November 23, 2025. year. All nightć and in the morning the residents were without electricity.

– Many households live in the settlement, OPGs who need electricity for their work, families with small children, and elderly and sick people. We especially emphasize that there are local residents who need devices such as oxygen pumps and other medical devices that cannot work without electricity. Also, many heating systems do not function without electricity, which is why households were left without heating during cold nights – he said.

He explained that, in order to solve the problem permanently, the Local Board started the initiative to collect consent from the locals whose lands are located along the power line route. Permissions were collected, which enabled HEP ODS to further expand the route and remove trees in an additional six to seven meters on each side, in order to prevent future failures.

– Elektra has repeatedly promised that, as soon as the consents are collected, they will start solving the problem. The consents were officially granted to HEP ODS on December 2, 2025. From that day until today, we have not received any feedback or notification about the start of the works. There were no concrete answers to the inquiries made two weeks after the submission of the consent. Unfortunately, exactly what we warned about happened again on December 24, on Christmas Eve itself, the village was left without electricity again. Instead of peace, family togetherness and holiday cheer, the residents of Donji Hruševac Christmas Eveć and Božić they are waiting in uncertainty, fear and concern for their children, the elderly and the infirm, for heating and basic living conditions – he said.

He added that the locals have decided, in the event of a repeat of the long-term interruption of the electricity supply, to take effect a temporary suspension of bill payments to HEP, due to continuous non-fulfillment of their obligations to maintain the network.

The residents of Donji Hruševac received electricity in the morning on Božić. Readers from the vicinity of Zapreši, Plusko and Kraljevi vrh also contacted us. They said that they also didn’t have electricity all Christmas Eve. The power outage extended to Christmas.

We have sent an inquiry to HEP and will publish it when we receive it.