“The Chisinau City Hall will continue to pay 40% of the heating bill for the socially underprivileged groups of people,” Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca said before the National Agency for Energy Regulation (ANRE) announced that the heating charge was raised from 540 lei to 699 lei per gigacalorie, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Agency also increased the price of gas by about 14% and the price of electric power by approximately 20%. The decision will begin to apply on February 1, 2010. “Even if ANRE raises the heating charge, the administration of Chisinau will continue to support the persons who earn less than 1,450 lei a month per person,” Chirtoaca said. “Two years ago, the City Hall formulated a program to protect the socially deprived groups.” According to the mayor, the Chisinau Municipal Council accepted about 25,000 applications for compensations. Several thousand more applications are to be approved at the Council's next meeting. Under the regulations concerning the provisions of compensations for heat, the Chisinau administration pays 40% of the heating bill for those who have centralized heating and 250 lei per person to those who heat their homes by gas, wood or coal. The mayor considers that the Government should consider paying compensations for heat to all the inhabitants of the country, following the example of the Chisinau City Hall.