Chisinau, December 6 (Infotag). Candidate for Chisinau Mayor Mr. Oleg Cernei of the “Alianta Verde” [Green Alliance] Ecological Movement has accused the Termocom municipal heating/hot-water distribution company of de-facto robbing of consumers in Chisinau.

Cernei organized a news conference in Infotag today to announce that last month, Termocom specialists, acting jointly with Tis Company, installed electronic chips into the communal heating meters at some 8 hundred multistory apartment houses in Chisinau.

“According to the official legend, those chips were supposed to provide for a more accurate technique of heating usage counting. However, the true purpose of the chips was to rob the consumers. Suppose, an apartment house decides to temporarily cut the heating supply for some time due to warm weather or other reason, but the chips would all the same indicate the supply timing, which will later be included into the bill calculation procedure. This simple trick permits ascribing extra 7-20 gigacalories to each multistory apartment house”, Oleg Cernei stated.

The candidate further held that “Chisinau consumers are unaware that Termocom buys the heating agent from heating-electric power plants CET-1 and CET-2 and from Moldovagas at a price of 133 lei per a gigacalory, but sells each gigacalory to ultimate consumers already for 233 lei”.

Oleg Cernei made yet another discovery. In his words, this year Termocom has drilled several water wells of its own, so now there is no need to pay 13 lei for each ton of water supplied by Apa-Canal municipal water company. The pumping of own water costs really peanuts.

“However, the tariff Termocom charges on the central heating has remained as high as before. Consumers have no idea, either, that since the year 2002 Termocom has accumulated 1.2 billion lei of debts, whereas consumers’ arrears are standing only at 364 million lei”, said the candidate for Chisinau Mayor.

Oleg Cernei demanded from the Moldovan Parliament to urgently pass a Law on central heating that would put in strict legal order all relations between heating providers and consumers. He also addressed President Vladimir Voronin and Prime Minister Vasily Tarlev with a demand to bring consumer right violators to stand responsibility.