The heating charge for end-users in Chisinau is expected to be 1 045 lei per gigacalorie, up 16.4% from the current charge of 898 lei. The charge will be raised following the demanded increase in tariffs on the heat supplied by the thermoelectric plants (CETs), Info-Prim Neo reports. CET 1 and CET 2 requested the National Agency for Energy Regulation (ANRE) to increase the tariffs for heat to 613 and, respectively, 768 lei per gigacalorie. “Termocom expects that the CETs will reduce the costs so that there is approved a reasonable heat change for the end-users,” Termocom director Mihail Cernei said in a public meeting of the ANRE. “We decreased the company’s profit by 5% to 12.3 million lei. The repair costs were cut by 4 million lei. We also excluded financial deviations of 3.6 million lei,” said Mihail Cernei. According to him, if CET-2 identified a possibility of diminishing the value of the wear and tear included in the tariff on the heat supplied to Termocom, the heat charge for end-users may be lower than 1 000 lei/Gcal. (Three fourths of the heat supplied by Termocom to end-users is bought from CETs and only one fourth is produced by Termocom – e.n.) “The high current heat charges are the result of the incorrect policy pursued during the last few years,” ANRE director general Victor Parlicov said in the meeting. He also said that the massive disconnections from the centralized heating system destroyed these systems in many towns, while those that are still operated are inefficient, while the number of consumers fell significantly. The customers who still use the centralized heating services cover the costs for those who were disconnected. The ANRE offered the suppliers time to identify possibilities of decreasing the tariffs. The Agency will take a decision as to the new tariffs at the end of this week or the start of next week.