Parts of Chisinau, Ungheni district to pay more for heating

People in Chisinau's suburban towns of Codru, Costiujeni and Aeroport, and in the district of Ungheni, will pay more for heating, under a decision adopted today by the Board of the National Energy Agency (ANRE), Info-Prim Neo reports. The decision, which takes effect upon publishing in the Official Gazette, provides that the heating rates in the suburbs and in Ungheni will rise respectively by 38.5 percent to 749 lei/Gcal and by 12.7 percent to 792 lei/Gcal. Both hikes were requested by utilities – Apa-Canal Chisinau and Ungheni's Comgaz-Plus – which sustained financial losses in 2009 because of the inadequately adjusted rates in these locations. However, in both cases ANRE rejected the utilities' requests to raise the rates to a degree that would afford them profits in 2010.