Termocom fears centralised heating system crisis could escalate

Chisinau’s heat distributor Termocom warns of an unavoidable deepening of the centralised heating system crisis. This crisis is expected to take place in the period of January 10-15, 2008, when the heat bills for December 2007 will have to be paid, the administration of the company told a press conference on Monday, January 24. According to the cited source, because earlier this month the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) lowered the heating charge, Termocom will accumulate until yearend debts of more than 140-150 lei that it will be unable to handle. Under these conditions it is expected that gas, power and heat suppliers will reduce supplies even more and then cut them off altogether. Termocom continues to lay all the blame for the created situation on the city authorities. As a new argument to back their position, they use the CMC decision of December 20 by which 48 ml lei had been transferred to Termocom from the City Hall budget on condition that the company resumes hot water supplies to household consumers. Termocom calls this decision, which was taken without solving vital issues to ensure that the heating system works smooth, as “a populist and cynic action whose aim is to continue to destabilise the situation”. By Transferring that sum, the City Hall and the CMC once again admitted the legitimacy of the Decision dated January 25, 2007 regarding the approval of the tariff, as well as the fact that CMC had the necessary financial means, while the key to the conflict rested in the hands of the City Hall and the CMC, Termocom said. As a consequence, the statement runs, after the resumption of hot water supplies on December 21 and 22 and with limited gas supplies, the temperature of the delivered heat in pipes has been decreased by 7 degrees, the temperature in the apartments, kindergartens and schools being also decreased to 14-16 degrees. According to the calculations of Termocom specialists, the temperature of the delivered heat will continue to decrease in the days to come, the document reads. The press statement of the Termocom administration does not give answers to the charges that have been brought against it the same day by local authorities, first during the meeting at the City Hall, afterwards in a press communique, according to which the company has no ground to decrease the temperature of the delivered heat in this period, as Termocom continues to make profits that should be used by the company to cover its production costs.