Each fourth inhabitant of Chisinau municipality does not pay for the consumed water and their debts for water are paid by block neighbors. A solution is to sign direct contracts between the supplier and end-users. The issue was developed in public hearings staged to discuss the changes to the regulations on the public water supply and sewerage service, IPN reports.

SA “Apa-Canal Chisinau” director general Veronica Herta said the current legislation is controversial and the water supplier faces problems in invoicing the consumed water. The article concerning the signing of direct contractors with end-users contains provisions that are hardly implementable and the problem could thus remain unsolved. The suggestion is to enable the supplier to sign contracts with housing sector managers if the legal provisions of this article are not fulfilled.

According to Veronica Herta, the end-users are not interested in signing direct contracts with the supplier. They want just to pay for what they consume. In Chisinau, 26% of those connected to the water supply and sewerage system do not pay for the consumed water and the difference is covered by the block neighbors. The legislation should stipulate the notion of household water and a clear mechanism for Chisinau municipality as hot household water is supplied here only and the suppliers encounter problems owing to the legislative gaps.

Director general of the National Agency for Energy Regulation Tudor Copaci said that the Agency has regulated the service since the law on the public water supply and sewerage service took effect in 2014. Forty licenses for providing this service have been issued so far, two of which this year. These are held both by legal entities and by operators of public water supply and sewerage systems. The licensing of operators often ends with the closing of small legal entities that do not have money to pay fines. The small operators should unite and provide high-quality services at the local level.

Tudor Copaci also said that most of the complaints to the Agency are submitted by household users and refer to invoicing and contracts, such as the supplier’s refusal to sign individual contracts for the provision of the public water supply and sewerage service.