Moldovan experts recommend the Chisinau local authorities to offer heat compensations depending on the beneficiaries' needs, proportionally to the social group they are part of, Info-Prim Neo reports. “You cannot give compensations of 100% to everybody,” said Veaceslav Ionitata, an economist with the IDIS Viitorul think tank. Depending on the financial situation of the people, it would be logical and real to compensate 25%, 50%, 75% or even 100% of the charge for centralized heating. The Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) needs to discuss and take into consideration real things and possibilities,” he said at a sitting at the City Hall. Referring to CMC chairman Eduard Musuc's idea to grant compensations automatically to certain social groups, Veaceslav Ionita has said “this will damage the municipal budget a lot.” “The beneficiary should make efforts to get the aid. The people with small incomes know that. In all the world, the privileged are checked up whether they really need this assistance,” the experts says. Speaking about the data presented by the National Statistics Bureau, according to which, the average income of a person was 1,215 lei in the second quarter of 2008, while the minimum amount for subsistence was 1,437 lei, Ionita has said the real incomes of the Moldovans are 15% less than the subsistence minimum. “These data show that 75% of the Chisinau residents are OK to get compensations,” Veaceslav Ionita said. The experts reckon there are 141,000 families in Chisinau which may, some way or another, benefit from compensations. In addition, there are other 50,000 unemployed. If the heating tariff is raised to 650 lei per Gcal (now it is 540 lei), the amount to be allocated in compensations would be some 280 million lei. The Chisinau administration actually is not obliged by law to offer compensations, this thing is a duty of the central authorities, says another IDIS expert. “The Chisinau authorities have the right to provide assistance to the Chisinau residents, but they are not obliged to,” specified Viorel Furdui, a doctor of law. According to Victor Parlicov, an IDIS expert, “the regulation on granting nominal compensations wast hastily adopted, without being tested in advance.” He says the dialogue between the two sides (the CMC and Termocom supplier) cannot be constructive as long as it is held “through media and courts.” Now the municipality compensates 40% of the heat bills of the families with less than 1450 lei per member. They have to submit a set of documents to local authorities to prove they are entitled to get the aid from the municipal budget.