Heating charge in Chisinau will rise, Termocom official

The commercial director of SA Termocom Mihai Arusoi said that he does not yet know what heating charge will be proposed for the 2009-2010 heating season. The calculations will be done during ten days, Arusoi said at the meeting of the Chisinau City Hall on Monday. After the meeting, he told the reporters that the present charge is too low and must be increased because the company continues to work at a loss, Info-Prim Neo reports. Arusoi said that though the price of the Russian natural gas decreased, the suppliers of SA Termocom - the thermoelectric plants CET-1 and CET-2 - did not cut the tariffs. “The heating charge will definitely rise. We cannot yet say whether it will be 840 lei per Gcal, lower or higher, but our experts as well as independent experts said that the present charge of 540 lei cannot be maintained anymore,” Arusoi said. The municipality of Chisinau is 98% prepared for the 2009 - 2010 heating season. The deputy mayor Vlad Cotet, who is responsible for the Chisinau's thermoenergy sector, said that 80% of the apartment buildings have been issued with technical permits and can be supplied with heat. The municipal services completed 85% of the roof repairing works planned for this year. According to the deputy minister, the only unsolved problem that can delay the start of the heating season is the payment of the historical debts for heat. Mayor General Dorin Chirtoaca said he is glad that the population paid 90% of the heating bills for the previous season after the new regulations concerning the payment of allocations came into force. He asked that all the calculations be done transparently so that the Chisinau residents know what they pay money for. The heating charge in Chisinau is 540 lei/Gcal. Until the previous heating season, the population paid 233 lei/Gcal, while the difference was covered by the municipal authorities. Now the Chisinau administration covers 40% of the payments for gas for the families that earn less than 1,450 lei per member a month. The applicants must present documents to confirm that they should benefit from compensations for heat.