Public heating in Timisoara, including for hospitals, shut down amid debt crisis

The natural gas suppliers E.ON and Delgaz have discontinued their deliveries to the two public heating producers in the municipality of Timisoara (CET Centru and Colterm), which leaves 56,000 households and most of the schools and public institutions without heat.

Only a couple of hospitals in Timisoara have their own heating systems, and the lack of public heating leaves the others in a critical situation.

Colterm reported that it still has coal for some six days of operation - but it needs natural gas to fire it, Economica.net reported.

E.ON and Delgaz discontinued gas supply on October 26 at noon, after the municipality accumulated a significant amount of unpaid bills - some RON 320 mln (EUR 64 mn). A bill currently under debate in Parliament would cap the gas price for households and centralised heating producers - which would remove part of the pressure on the municipality of Timisoara.

Mayor Dominic Fritz said that independent suppliers couldn’t guarantee steady deliveries as they seek to buy from the spot market, and anyways they ask for the payment in advance. He called for support from the central government’s budget, explaining that otherwise, the heating companies in Timisoara can not operate over the coming winter, Tion.ro reported.

He also proposed to double the price paid by households for the heating provided by Colterm.

(Photo source: Facebook/Dominic Fritz)