Moldovagaz dwindles gas supply to plant in Chisinau by 30%

Moldovagaz has dwindled the gas supply to power plant CET-2 in Chisinau, which supplies heat to over 60% of apartments. It also slightly decreased the deliveries to Termocom, and CET-1 power plant, so that the temperature in apartments dropped 4-5 below the normal. The temperature in grids is 65 degrees Celsius, instead of 80 degrees, specified deputy mayor of Chisinau Vlad Cotet at Monday's staff meeting, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. Vlad Cotet says “technically, the heating pipes are OK”, and the current bill payments were 60% of the total by December 25 . “In the apartments on the first story, the temperature is below the normal, reaching up to 14-15 degrees, compared with the necessary 18,” he said. Housing direction head Petru Gontea has said the number of complaints from dwellers is steady, but “if the temperature of the air drops below 10 degrees, it is going to happen. A half of apartments will be heated poorly,” he said. At the same time, Gontea assures the pipes will resist even in the conditions when the temperature in of the heating agent in them is 30 degrees. According to the manager of CET-2, Alexandru Comarov, “the has supplies have been reduced because of the arrears to Moldovagaz.” He says the situation was similar last year, but not so serious. “Moldovagaz is ready to provide the necessary volume of natural gas, in case the debts are paid off, there are no other problems.” The power plants' managers say heat distributor paid them less last year. “If it is not about the debt, it's about the tariff, if it's not about the tariff it about the running payments, and if the payments are higher than last year, what's next then?” asked Chisinau mayor Dorin Chirtoaca, calling the situation as “blackmailing on the part of Moldovagaz.” . “This time Russian Gazprom is also involved. It's a pity they resort to such methods having proved inefficient. This gesture on the part of Moldovagaz is totally unexplainable,” the mayor said. He added “if the temperature in apartments is not as due, minutes shall be written to recalculate the bills later.” Termocom's representatives did not attend the staff sitting, although they were invited. In a press release, Termocom maintains “the reason of dwindling the gas deliveries consists in the big debts of the plants and Termocom to the gas supplier, which originate in the 140-million-lei debt of the Chisinau City Hall to Termocom and in the heat tariff not covering the real expenses of the heat supplier.” The Chisinau Council owes Termocom 148 million lei, a debt generated because of the compensations granted to the dwellers for heating.