Although last winter was not extremely frosty, the people of Bucharest paid huge maintenance bills. It was the first time in recent years that the chain sinks caused utility bills to even exceed 1,000 lei per month in some cases.
Romanian paradox. Lower temperatures, higher bills
Radu Opaina, the president of the Owners’ Associations in Romania, also gave some examples in which Bucharest residents paid bills of even 1,500 lei just for heat. Affected were those who live in the communist blocks, where distributors are installed.
Despite all this, Radu Opaina claims that it would have been normal for the people of Bucharest to pay 20% lower bills compared to the previous winter, considering the higher temperatures.
On the other hand, those who lived in the new buildings and which installed thermal power plants were somewhat more fortunate. Under these conditions, Mihai Avram, block administrator, explained why some people paid higher maintenance bills last winter.
Bucharesters from the communist blocs, the most affected
“As a rule, large maintenance comes to blocks built under the previous regime. I’ll give you an example, a family of three people, in a three-room apartment, under conditions where the temperature inside was 19 degrees, paid maintenance 900 lei for the month of November.
If there is a two-room apartment where only one person lives, he will be tempted to turn off the heat in the second room. If there will be other cases of this kind, the block will no longer heat up evenly.
If another person heats the whole apartment, the cold walls will be heated first and the consumption will be much higher. The heat will no longer be evenly distributed, and some will have to heat the surface of those who do not heat it.
I can say that, this year, the maintenance was top notch, given that we had a mild winter. If the winter had been normal or frosty, as in other years, the thermal agent supplied by Termoenergetica would not have been supplied at optimal temperatures, with all the repairs that were made during this period”, stated Mihai Avram.
Invoices of 1,500 lei
The former director of RADET, Radu Opaina, although he mentioned that it would have been normal for the bills to be somewhat lower, due to the higher temperatures, in reality the citizens of Bucharest paid more. Part of the blame lies with the presidents of the association.
“In principle, the maintenance was supposed to be lower than last winter, thanks to the good Lord, who made the need for heating decrease by about 30%. Maintenance should have come in somewhere around 20% less than last winter. Theoretically, this was supposed to happen, practically, in too few blocks the theory was respected.
Another cause is the fraudulent management of management companies, especially in new, residential blocks, where it was normal to have lower costs and the costs are very high. Other causes are the negligence and incompetence of the presidents of the association, who, instead of applying the law and respecting the market prices, as they are, apply them wrongly and cause damage by increasing the maintenance”, explained Radu Opaina.
block / Photo source: Photo 94726937 © Pisit Habha | Dreamstime.com
The phenomenon will also extend to cities in the province
Also, the winter that ended was the cold season with the most bills higher than 1,000 lei/month. At the same time, the president of RADET does not believe that things will return to normal in the next period, and the phenomenon in Bucharest will also expand to the big cities in the province.
“It’s a phenomenon that appeared this winter. Where the maintenance was abnormally calculated, many exceeded the threshold of 1,000 lei, which, in previous years, did not happen. For the first time in history, many appeared with maintenance of over 1,000 lei.
They ended up paying 1,500 lei for heat for a three-room apartment, which is abnormal and illegal. This happened in the blocks with distributors. In the blocks without distributors, the world is quieter, the maintenance is more acceptable, there are no disputes, there are no litigations”, Radu Opaina told Gândul.
