The heat consumption in the centralized heating system of the municipality of Chisinau this winter was by 6% lower compared with last winter, but the heat bills increased by almost 5 million lei, Info-Prim Neo reports. In the March 26 meeting of Chisinau City Hall officials, Ion Margineanu, director of the municipal company “Infocom”, said that the bills are by 5% higher on last year. A sum of 690 million lei was accumulated for the 2011-2012 season, without March. This figure for the entire heating season last year was 685 million lei. Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca said the heat bills rose by only 5% even if the heat charge increased by 20%. “It was a severe winter. If it hadn’t been so cold in February, the bills would have been lower,” he stated. The heat consumption fell from 1,657,000 gigacalories in the 2009-2010 heating season to 1,532,000 gigacalories this season. The last time the heat charge was raised last October – from 898 lei to 987 lei per gigacalorie.