Chirtoaca proposes public debate to discuss debts of energy companies

Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca proposed holding a public debate to discuss the way energy companies like Termocom, Moldova-Gaz, CET-1 and CET-2 accumulate and spend money, suggesting that they have unreasonably incurred debts of billions of lei, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The heating rate has always been on the municipal authorities' agenda. And we've always highlighted the necessity of holding public debates to discuss the spending of public money by these utilities, which have lately incurred debts of billions. In the last eight years alone their debt owed to Gazprom have risen by 100 million lei each year, which, together with a previous debt of 1.2 billion lei, amounts to 2 billion”, the mayor told a press conference on Monday. One year ago Termocom asked the City Council to raise the heating rate to over 800 lei pet G-calorie. Several days ago, as a result of the rise in the price of the imported gas, the Energy Agency ANRE increased the rate to under 700 lei. “I consider that last year's request of the monopoly was unfounded, and so were the rates asked by the CETs (abbr. for combined heat and power plant)”, said the mayor. “Besides the fact that the rates for gas and heating cover their costs, the rate also includes a maneuver fund of about 500 million lei, budgeted for repair and investment, which nobody controls and which is used arbitrarily by the administrators of these companies”. Having adopted new rates, ANRE requested the energy companies to present investment programs and explain how these, rather large maneuver funds would be used in crisis situations. Dorin Chirtoaca thinks that the government agencies should closely watch all the energy-related spending so that the debt owed to Russia doesn't increase. After the latest hike in the price of the imported gas, Moldova pays 90% of the price set for the European countries. An agreement signed with Gazprom and valid until 2011 guarantees that Moldova will not have to pay 100% of the market price.