Tens of thousands of Bucharesters don’t have hot water

Tens of thousands of households in Bucharest’s 2, 3, and 4 districts don’t have hot water starting Wednesday night and the shortage could last two weeks. Meanwhile, the companies in charge of producing and distributing hot water in Bucharest accuse each other for the situation and the newly elected Bucharest mayor suspects a political revenge. ELCEN, a state-owned company that produces electricity, hot water for Bucharest’s residents, has decided to close two of its units for maintenance, reports local Digi24. The company, which is under the Energy Ministry’s authority claims that, despite the two units being shut, it still supplies hot water at optimum temperature to distributor RADET. ELCEN also claims that RADET’s old distribution network is to blame for the hot water shortages. On the other hand, RADET, which is controlled by the Bucharest City Hall, claims that ELCEN’s decision to freeze its accounts for unpaid debt has prevented it from making any repairs on its network. Bucharest’s newly elected mayor Gabriela Firea said that ELCEN’s decision to close two of its power units for maintenance at the same time was unprecedented and asked the company to unfreeze RADET’s accounts so that the distributor could make the necessary repairs to its network. Gabriela Firea’s party president Liviu Dragnea suspects that the situation may be the Government’s revenge for the social democrats’ categorical victory in the local elections in Bucharest. editor@romania-insider.com