Installing individual heating systems will become more difficult

People who will want to disconnect their homes from the district heating systems will have to secure the consent of all the residents of the respective apartment building, under a normative amendment proposed by the Ministry of Economy, Info-Prim Neo reports. Another proposal is to require these people to pay 20%, and not 5% as currently, of the bill that they had to pay if they remained connected to the district system. This, the Economy Ministry argues, will cover the costs of heating the collective spaces of apartments buildings, such as lobbies, staircases and basements. A third proposal is to require all residential consumers to pay at least 40% of the heating bills during 5 months as long as the heating season lasts, with the remainder being payable until August 1 of each year. According to the Ministry of Economy, there are over 22,000 apartments that were disconnected from the district heating system, which makes up 15 percent of the total housing stock. The Ministry is worried that the massive practice of disconnecting homes from the district system causes the costs of the service to rise.