Determining the optimal operating mode of equipment is an important task of modern energy. When planning the operating modes of thermal power plants (TPPs) in the short term (from several hours to several weeks), the following requirements are usually taken into account: production and distribution between the generating units of a given amount of electricity, supply of a given capacity in accordance with the schedule for each group of generation supply points, heat supply to external consumers in accordance with the planned schedule of heat supply. Accounting for heat supply to external consumers allows us to consider in more detail the influence of the volume of heat withdrawals on the area of permissible loads of generating units. This article pays special attention to the optimization of equipment operating modes taking into account the volumes of heat withdrawals from generating units.