The water supplier “Apă-Canal Chișinău” risks being disconnected from the power supply. In the meeting of the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC), the company’s director Irina Gutnic said they received a notice warning to clear the debts for electricity. The director spoke about the necessity of adjusting the water supply and sewerage charges given that the electricity and natural gas rates were increased, IPN reports.
“We have an unordinary situation. “Apă-Canal Chișinău” on Monday received a notice from “Premier Energy” by which it warns that if we do not pay the debt of 5.6 million lei for electricity, on November 24 it will disconnect Apă-Canal from the power supply,” stated Irina Gutnic.
She noted that the company is in an exceptional situation. The water charges haven’t been adjusted since 2017. They need to be adjusted to the realities of the operator and to the new power and gas rates. The water pipes managed by the company are worn-out and cause considerable losses. The losses in the drinking water networks represent 8% to 60% of the volume distributed in the system, while the European average is 23%.
In June, the company’s electricity bill was 16.8 million lei when the price of power was 2.64 lei. In October, when the electricity rate was 3.15 lei, the costs rose to 18/1 million lei, while in November the company is to pay 31 million lei for power at a rate of 4.74 lei. “The operator’s annual costs in 2023 were projected at 342.4 million lei. In the current water charge, the NAER accepts about 134 million lei, which is practically half of the costs we incurred for electricity,” said Irina Gutnic.
The CMC meeting was interrupted until Thursday, when the adjustment of water supply and sewerage charges is to be considered again.
