OREANDA-NEWS. August 04, 2011. The Ministry of Economy suggests lifting the payment for heating apartments cut off from the centralized heating system from 5% to 20% of the fixed cost of heating. Under the draft amendments published by the Ministry of Economy, 15 percent of apartments in Chisinau and 28 percent in Balti are totally cut off from centralized heating.

The draft law stipulates that in case of the total disconnection from the centralized heating, a consumer will pay 20% of the thermal energy’s cost calculated for a square meter, instead of the current 5%.

The calculation takes into account normative heat loss in engineering and utility services rooms that keep the engineering water-supply and sewerage systems working in the winter period, as well as heating places of general usage and impossibility of disconnecting transit dropping pipes. The document also stipulates total ban on partial disconnection of an apartment from centralized heating.

The total disconnection will be made on condition that another heating source will be installed in an apartment to keep the permanent temperature in the building of at least 18 degrees (instead of the current 8 degrees) provided that all owners of the house’s apartments give their written consent and provided that the centralized heating system reconstruction project is available.