Today, March 26, the heating season in Chisinau has come to an end. Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca held a press conference on this occasion and announced this was the longest and the most expensive heating season over the last 4 years, Info-Prim Neo reports. The disruption of heat supply won’t cease the hot water supply, says Vasile Leu, deputy director of Termocom. He said the enterprise would shift to the summer mode and consumers would not be deprived of hot water. However, because of some repair works related to the preparation for the next heating season, the hot water supply would be halted for a month in summer. Compared to last year’s, shorter season, the amount of consumed heat in 2010-2011 was significantly higher, amounting to 1.6 million Gcal. Dorin Chirtoaca mentioned that, unlike last season, people didn’t request to be disconnected from the heating system and the rate of payment for heating was much higher. So far, 63% of the bills have been paid. Ion Margineanu, head of municipal enterprise Infocom, says the number of consumers that pay heating bills partially has increased by 20%. Meanwhile, 50% of consumers choose to pay them entirely. The number of beneficiaries of compensations for heat has increased as well. About 30,000 families in Chisinau received nearly 70 million lei. The heating season began in October 2010 because of low temperatures. This season, the price of heat nearly doubled, from 540 lei to 898 lei for 1 Gcal. The average bill for the whole heating period is about 4,000 lei. The rule is that the heating season ends after average temperatures rise above 8 degrees Celsius three days in a row, which occurred this week. However, the weather service has anticipated a drop in temperatures beginning on Sunday.