Apa-Canal Chisinau to work out apartment metering plan

The Chisinau water supplier SA Apa-Canal Chisinau (ACC) will present an apartment metering plan to the National Agency for Competition Protection, Info-Prim Neo reports. After a closed-door meeting on February 14, the watchdog’s head Viorica Carare said the Agency does not agree that the water charges should be raised if the supplier covers the costs of setting up water meters itself. ACC director Constantin Becciev said the company has not changed its position. “We put forward a number of draft decisions and will ask the Chisinau Council to approve normative documents that will help the consumers to solve the metering-related problems,” said Constantin Becciev. He also said that the ACC will appeal the National Agency for Competition Protection’s decision whereby the supplier was forced to install water meters at its own expense to court. The meeting was attended by unaffiliated municipal councilor Oleg Cernei, who heads the Chisinau Council’s Public Amenities Division. He said after the meeting that the head of the National Agency for Competition Protection exceeded her authority. “The Agency misinformed the public forced when it forced Apa-Canal to set up meters free of charge, especially because it did it at the request of First Deputy Speaker Vladimir Plahotniuc,” said Oleg Cernei. The local councilor added that the installation and checking of the water meters cost money. “The consumers now pay 9.19 lei per cubic meter of water. If the water supplier installs water meters at its expense, the consumers will have to pay a separate tariff of 5 lei. This mean that the final charge will be 15 lei,” the local councilor said. The conflict between Apa-Canal Chisinau and the National Agency for Competition Protection arose about two weeks ago. According to the water supplier, about 200 million lei is needed to install meters in apartments in Chisinau. The Agency disputes this figure.