The mayor of Timisoara, Dominic Fritz, requested another 130 million lei from the Government to cover the costs of district heating in Timisoara.

“Because in Bucharest there is a preferential contract with a state-owned company, the people of Timisoara subsidize the price in Bucharest, while they are in the cold. It’s absurd. If we, at Colterm, had a contract with 150 lei/MWh, you would never hear of Mayor Fritz complaining or asking for money and you would not hear any news of schools without heat,” said the USR mayor of Timisoara in an interview for News.ro.

“This year, since the beginning of January, Colterm has received 65 million lei, of which only 15 from the government. So we’re talking about the first five weeks of the year. In a normal year, Colterm received 65-70 million lei… (Before) a bill in a hard winter was of 10-15 million lei, now it is between 60 and 80 million lei,” he added.

Fritz said both the price of Gigacalories and the level of subsidies had doubled. “I sent a memorandum to the government at the end of January in which I asked for another 130 million lei… So far I have not received any answer. They are working on a new emergency ordinance, which, in theory, gives the possibility to allocate money for several municipalities, only that in this GEO, to understand how absurd the situation we are sometimes is, there is an article that stipulates that only cities that did not have a budget surplus at the end of the year can benefit from this help,” he added.

“Timişoara is cold, while in Bucharest the price of gas from ELCEN is of 150 lei/MWh, and in Timişoara we paid around 500 lei. Because in Bucharest there is a preferential contract with a state-owned company, the people of Timisoara subsidize the price in Bucharest, while they are in the cold. It’s absurd… 150 lei is more expensive than last winter, but it would be an increase that we can manage. Or, a five-fold increase cannot be managed by anyone. When we are talking about basic needs, such as the heat, the state must ensure that all Romanians have access.”