What is the solution for Bucharest’s failing heating system?

Bucharest’s centralized heating system is currently dealing with problems that can be solved only in 15-20 years, and only if the entire system is reorganized, said yesterday Emil Calota, the president of the National Regulatory Authority for Energy (ANRE). The current system is gigantic. The ANRE official said that a possible solution would be integrating the cost management for ELCEN and RADET, the two companies responsible for producing and supplying heat and hot water to households in Bucharest. This doesn’t necessarily mean a merger between the two companies. “The individual metering is very important. The consumers need to see a correct invoice that they can manage,” Calota said, reports local Agerpres. The main actors in Bucharest’s centralized heating system are ELCEN and RADET. ELCEN is the thermal energy producer and owns four thermal plants in Bucharest. RADET is the thermal energy distributor in Bucharest. Both companies asked for their insolvency in the last two days. RADET is under the management of the Bucharest City Hall and ELCEN is controlled by the Energy Ministry. The two companies have been blaming each other for the big problems in the capital’s centralized heating system. Both are in great debt. RADET owes a lot of money to ELCEN, and ELCEN has debts of over EUR 33 million to the gas distributor Distrigaz. Winter around the corner, Bucharest’s heat distributor files for insolvency, electricity&heat producer is next editor@romania-insider.com