Local authorities and Termocom SA argue over heating charge

The Chisinau deputy mayor Mihai Furtuna describes the legal action taken by Termocom SA against the local public authorities, demanding that the City Hall is obliged to raise the heating charge to 715 lei per Gcal by court, as harassment, Info-Prim Neo reports. At Monday’s meeting of the Chisinau City Hall, the deputy mayor said that the heat supplier’s decision is incorrect because the City Hall as well as the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) asked Termocom SA to present the information about the company’s incomes and expenditure for last year as from October 13, 2007. The data could be used to fix a real charge in compliance with the methodology of calculating the heating charge. The commercial director of Termocom SA Mihai Arusoi denied the accusations, saying that the local authorities try again to mislead the press and the consumers. He said that Termocom SA submitted the necessary set of documents to the municipal authorities, except the balance sheet that will be presented on February 20. Chisinau Mayor General Dorin Chirtoaca said that the balance sheet is the most important document that the local administration needs to start calculating the tariff. “If you want to fix a new heating charge by court, you’d better talk to those that manage this process so that they fix it by themselves and not involve the local public authorities,” the mayor said, addressing to Arusoi. According to the mayor, the population understands who instructs Termcoom SA to make such decisions and for what purpose. Dorin Chirtoaca said that the heat supplier must present all the documents required by the local public administration so that they could analyse them and include the approval of a new tariff in the agenda of the CMC meeting. “This is how the law says,” the mayor stressed. “There are ways of exerting pressure on the local administration, but this will boomerang on those that do such acts,” the mayor said, cited by Info-Prim Neo. On December 4, 2007, the City Council cancelled the tariff of 540 lei. At end-January, the court cancelled the given decision. On February 4, Termocom SA appealed to the Court of Appeals Chisinau asking it to oblige CMC to approve an administrative document for adjusting the price of the heat supplied by Termocom SA to all the categories of consumers. Termocom SA won the case agaisnt the Chisinau City Hall and CMC. The court obliged the two to pay the debt of 149 million lei to the heat supplier. The debt represents the difference in the heating charge of 540 lei and the price of 233 lei paid by the population that the City Hall pledged to cover.