Bucharest mayor asks EUR 200 mln from Govt. to keep central heating system alive

The Bucharest Municipality hasn’t decided yet the price for the heating distributed under its central system. The City Hall - or rather the residents - would be “in deep trouble” unless the Government approves at least partly the RON 968 mln (nearly EUR 200 mln) supplementary subsidies, mayor Nicusor Dan told the ad-hoc committee of lawmakers investigating the energy prices, Hotnews.ro reported.

The final price, without subsidies, asked by the heating production and distribution companies would rise from RON 425 (RON 505 including VAT) per Gcal last year to RON 830 (RON 890 including VAT) this year, according to Dan. The market regulator still has to clear the request submitted by the distribution company.

The households paid roughly one-third of the price of the heating last year (RON 163 per Gcal), and Nicusor Dan initially mentioned two options for this year: keeping the end-user price at the same level while increasing the subsidies or maintaining the ratio of the price paid by households (one third).

In the latter case, the households would pay some RON 300 per Gcal, which is an 84% increase. However, as the Government hasn’t approved yet the substantial subsidies asked by Bucharest Municipality, mayor Dan admitted that the price might rise even more. If the Government approves no supplementary subsidies to Bucharest municipality, the households would have to cover the RON 385 rise of the heating price - meaning they would pay a price triple the one paid last year.

Notably, the Bucharest municipality already spends RON 1 bln (EUR 200 mln) from its own resources to subsidize the central heating price. On the other hand, the households in Bucharest receive just over 60% of the heating produced by the central heating company - as 2.2 mln litres of hot water leaks through the ailing distribution network each hour (data as of 2020).

(Photo: Nicusor Dan Facebook Page)