Heating supplier gives 15-day deadline to Bucharest municipality

Elcen, a heating and power producer owned by the Government, urged Bucharest’s municipal heating distribution company Termoenergetica to pay its December bill in amount of RON 170 million (EUR 35.4 mln) within 15 days, according to a statement from the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment quoted by Agerpres.

"If Termoenergetica ignores this request, we will pass the due bill to the tax collection agency ANAF and I am convinced that they know better how to recover the outstanding amounts," said minister Virgil Popescu, quoted in the company’s statement.

He added that Elcen will actually pass to ANAF all the overdue bills that Bucharest municipality has failed to pay so far.

Termoenergetica has inherited the heating distribution network from RADET - which went bankrupt not before accumulating as much debts as possible.

The Bucharest municipality, headed by influential Social Democrat mayor Gabriela Firea, is in open conflict with the Liberal Government over budget issues.

Firea claims transfers from the state budget proportional to the weight of the capital city in the country’s GDP, while the Liberals are pointing to the inefficient way the Bucharest City Hall spends money on populist programs.

(Photo: Virgil Popescu Facebook Page)