Do district heating companies evade taxes?
"It is simply not true. District heating companies in the country are one of the most inspected companies. They are constantly under inspection. Someone has some interest. They do not have a single lev overdue debt to the treasury," commented the chairman of the Association of District Heating Companies Eng. Kremen Georgiev in the program "Denyat ON AIR".
District heating companies pay tens of millions in taxes to the treasury, he pointed out.
"Investments in increasing combined production - facilities that produce both electricity and heat energy, will solve the problem of "Toplofikatsiya-Sofia" forever. We see many other such examples. In Sofia, the investment will be for billions to finally solve the problem. Something needs to start, although it is already very late. This amount can be gradually invested. The municipality does not have such an opportunity, someone else must do it", said Eng. Georgiev.
He emphasized to Bulgaria ON AIR that the debt of "Toplofikatsiya-Sofia" is for billions and there is no more time to waste. "The concessionaire, whatever prices he asks for, it does not matter at all, because the price is determined by the KEVR. The mere granting of a concession cannot increase the price. If we are talking about an increase of 5-10%, this happens every year. This concessionaire, if he continues to exploit "Toplofikatsiya" in the same way, he will not last long, pointed out Eng. Kremen Georgiev.
According to him, thermal energy is currently produced in an inefficient manner and the production of electrical energy must be added to it. Which means that the prices of thermal energy will remain the same, but revenues from electrical energy will be added to it, the guest explained.
"There are too many bosses in this district heating company (editor's note - "Toplofikatsiya-Sofia"). They are both bosses, and they do not understand how problems can be solved, and they do not listen to how they can be solved. For the period in which I was a director, I have paid for the gas that I spent, plus the interest for delayed payments," said Eng. Kremen Georgiev.
According to him, the increase in heating prices was expected. There will definitely be a jump during the winter period, but all of this was calculated.
"I don't think such increases would be tragic for any household", the interviewee concluded.