A new mechanism for calculating compensations for heat has been drafted

The General Department for Economy and Finance of the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) has worked out a new draft mechanism for offering nominative compensations for heat to the disadvantaged population. At the beginning of the year, at the moment when the tariff for heat was increased from MDL 233 to MDL 540 per G-calorie, CMC approved paying the difference from the local budget not only for the poor, but for all the consumers. The decision was justified by the lack of a mechanism for calculating the compensations for heat. Department’s head Aurelia Porumbescu said that the draft mechanism was okayed by the rest of CMC structures and has to be examined and approved by the newly-elected city councillors. This is an absolutely new mechanism, worked out by the local specialists, which includes providing compensations depending on the average income of families and consumed G-calories. The compensations for the heat consumed by the disadvantaged population will be paid from extra funds transferred by the local authorities to the heat supplier “Termocom” JSC. Aurelia Porumbescu did not tell how much the compensation payments will amount to. Although it is not excluded that CMC could approve a new mechanism in the near future, Aurelia Porumbescu admits that most probably the mechanism will not be implemented this year because of the high volume of preparation works related to documentation and informing the citizens. According to her, the National Bureau of Statistics has no information about the incomes of each person so that those who will submit applications for compensation will have to present a series of documents which would confirm the low income. The local authorities say they will issue the documents necessary for this process free of charge. However, the documents obtained from the central authorities will have to be paid by the potential beneficiaries. Aurelia Porumbescu says that the persons requesting compensations will have to prove they do not own a vehicle and that the members of the family do not work abroad. The tariff difference for heat had to be paid from the local budget for the last heating season. Meanwhile this decision proved to be too expensive for the local budget, which owes about MDL 151 mln to Termocom. The new city authorities have not yet decided the way the population will pay the tariff for heat this season.