CHISINAU, November 24. /TASS/. Power engineers in the self-proclaimed Republic of Transnistria relaunched operations of the Moldavskaya and Dubossary hydroelectric power plants following massive blackouts in Moldova and neighboring Ukraine on Wednesday, the government agency Novosti of Transnistria said quoting the local operator Dnestrenergo.

"The Moldavskaya regional hydroelectric power plant and the Dubossary hydroelectric power plant are working again and power supplies to the absolute majority of consumers have resumed," Dnestrenergo’s chief engineer Andrey Gitsman told the media outlet. He added that the energy supply to large consumers resumed on Wednesday night. Earlier, Transnistrian Minister of Economic Development Sergey Obolonik said that the massive power outages could have been avoided if the Moldavskaya power plant which provides electric power to Moldova and Transnistria was functioning.

Moldova is feeling the brunt of an energy crisis due to soaring energy prices. The government announced a search for alternative energy sources and suppliers since the Moldavskaya power plant which became part of Inter RAO power generating company in 2005 remained the only source. As a result, the power plant’s supplies of gas which Moldova receives from Gazprom were reduced while electric power was being purchased from Ukraine and Romania where it is almost twice as expensive.

Mass power outages across Moldova occurred after an automatic control system kicked in on the line the country uses to receive electric power from Romania, once the Ukrainian power system broke down, Moldova’s Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu reported earlier. The republic’s energy system has been linked with Ukrainian and Transnistrian networks since Soviet times via the Moldavskaya power plant. It used to provide electric power to Moldova, southern Ukraine and the Balkans. In the event of glitches or damage, the system shuts down automatically to avoid accidents.