Swedish experts assess cost of Termocom's heat at over 800 lei

The Swedish experts having auditing SA Termocom have calculated a tariff of 817 lei per Gcal. The tariff does not mirror the debts of Chisinau's heat supplier. Moldovan analysts voice against the estimates of the Swedish company and believe the new tariff has been calculated on the basis of unchecked data, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the Swede Len Borjeson, the heat supplier should operate with a bigger tariff: 875 lei, in order to gain profits. It would also comprise Termocom's debts to heat supplying plants and the Moldova-Gaz distributor. This tariff is thought to allow to modernize the Moldovan company. The report has been compiled on data offered by the accountants of SA Termocom and of the National Energy Regulator (ANRE), one of the Swedish experts said. Robert Gorosch underlines the debts of heat distributor should be payed off as soon as possible, because in two years, in accordance with the present contract with Gazprom, the tariff is to rise gradually, so in 2011 it will reach the level of other countries in the region. Moldova now pays $278.71 per 1000 m3 to Gazprom. SA Termocom's administrator Dionisie Antocel says, after consulting ANRE, he will ask the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) to establish a minimum tariff of 822 lei per 1 Gcal. “Starting the heating period with the old tariff and continuing so will cost the company some 80 million lei in November only,” Antocel stated. A number of councilors and civil servants from the Chisinau administration express their dissatisfaction with the experts' auditing. They say the tariff is not real, and in computing it, the economic situation of the country was neglected, as well as the purchase power of the people. Chisinau's general mayor Dorin Chirtoaca has said he had addressed a number of requests to the experts as they were carrying out their research, as for example a suggestion to perform the study on the experience of the Swedish state, taking account the prices in Sweden. “I think it's crucial to start from the situation in other countries. Our problem is not to loot into the financial reports of power plants and Termocom. Our problem is to know if the expenditures were correct in those reports. If we don't have access, we thought maybe someone else from abroad would have, because it is a monopoly of the Cabinet and of the state.” Economist Veaceslav Ionita has shown his dissatisfaction with the auditing performed by the Sweco company. Attending the presentation of the report, he has said they should have started from the real tariff asked by the plants CET 1 and CET 2. “We find that Termocom has certain expenditures that must be accepted. We should clarify which are the losses incurred, which are the accepted administrative costs, and thus to see what is the real charge, in the circumstances of normal losses,” Ionita said. “If we accept Termocom having 27% of losses, the next year we'll have to accept losses of 35%, plus 5% profit.” According to Ionita, the real charge allowing for Termocom's good functioning is not bigger than 650 lei. It may also allow the company to attract investments. Economist Veaceslav Negruta has shown concern with the report presented by the Swedish experts. He says it's not the best way out to include Termocom's debts into the new tariff, “it's not fair with the people having payed their bills, who'll have to pay other debts, not theirs.” “The debts have been incurred because Termocom could not manage the situation economically, so it lost many consumers, who have installed autonomous heating systems. So, now the cost should be made up for by the rest of the users,” Negruta says. The technical and financial auditing of SA Termocom has been carried out by the Swedish company Sweco, with the support of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and of the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). The company was selected in a tender. Now 1 Gcal costs 540 lei. The population used to 233 lei and the rest of the amount -- 307 lei – was covered by from the Chisinau budget. Recently, the CMC adopted a new regulation on granting compensations to the poor.