The Bucharest City Hall will take over the electricity & heat producer ELCEN, which would help solve the capital’s heating problem, said Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose.

He summoned yesterday an extraordinary Parliamentary session to adopt a draft law for the takeover.

The Prime Minister met with the Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea and the Bucharest district mayors on July 5 to discuss about ELCEN and other topics.

The Bucharest City Hall manages Bucharest's thermal energy distributor RADET. Both RADET and ELCEN became insolvent last year. The two companies are essential for the supply of heat and hot water to Bucharest. However, they are managed by two different institutions at the present, namely the City Hall and the Energy Ministry.

The whole process represents a new attempt to merge the two companies. The merger idea has been discussed since 2013, but negotiations have failed.

editor@romania-insider.com