The calculation formulas for heating bills need to be changed urgently, as the current methodology has turned out to be “ineffective and even unconstitutional”, says the former lawmaker Arina Spătaru together with an association of Bălți residents.
“Spînu’s notorious methodology shocked Moldovans in late October of last year (…) A methodology that calculates the distribution of heat in multi-storied buildings in Bălți and Chisinau, it has been proven to be against the ordinary citizen”, said Arina Spătaru in a press conference on Tuesday
Before the conference, Spătaru together with a group of Bălți residents protested outside the Government building to draw the authorities’ attention to the problem, the latest event in a series of similar activities held over the past six months.
“Today we will finally participate in the public consultations organized by the Ministry of Energy. But what Minister Parlicov is now proposing is actually Spînu methodology 2.0, because this second iteration does not differ much from the first methodology which was illegal and unconstitutional”, claims Arina Spătaru.
“First of all, the people whose apartments are disconnected from the central heating system have suffered enormously due to this methodology. Today we sound the alarm and urge the energy minister to pay attention to several ambiguities and irregularities in methodology no. 2, so that in the fall of 2023 we ensure that any leu coming into the bill of the residents of Balti and Chisinau is calculated objectively and transparently”, added Arina Spătaru.
Sergiu Ungureanu, energy expert, said that the methodology proposed today is “practically copied word for word” from the previous methodology, which aroused a lot of dissatisfaction and controversies in society. “Today thinking we have a major change in this, we notice that it is basically the same methodology. Technically speaking, there are a lot of loopholes in this. We are saying it so that it is corrected and discussed extensively with specialists and the general public. I gathered all the mistakes in a document that I sent to the authorities”, said the expert.
Iurie Serafimovici, energy engineer and also a member of the Balti City Council, cited the decision of the Constitutional Court that declared unconstitutional the provision that required domestic consumers disconnected from the centralized heating system to pay transit costs.
According to him, in his notification to the Government and Parliament it was clearly mentioned that when developing the new methodology, all the mentions in the decision should be taken into account. “Absolutely nothing was considered. Because of this, I personally consider this methodology illegal and unconstitutional. It is used as an excuse by the suppliers who say that they have the methodology signed by the minister, without taking into account a series of existing laws”, stated Iurie Serafimovici.
