"Sofia Heating Company" does not have the funds to compensate residents of the capital's "Druzhba" 2 district for the shutdown of hot water and heating from October to New Year. This was stated in the studio of "Denyat Zapocha" by the company's executive director Petar Petrov. According to him, Sofia residents will be left without heating in the area for a maximum of 15 days, with the heating initially being stopped on October 2 for 3 days.
"We have divided the entire area into five zones. These five zones have between four and six carriages, which means that we can actually complete the entire repair in an optimal time frame of six 15-day periods. We will do our best to shorten this period," the company's head explained.
Petrov cannot guarantee, however, that during the renovation all residents of the neighborhood will have heating during the holidays - Christmas and New Year.
According to him, "Toplofikatsiya Sofia" is in a very difficult financial situation. The amount owed to "Bulgargaz" for natural gas has reached 2.1 billion leva.
"The actual delivery of unpaid quantities to "Bulgargaz" is 930 million leva since 2011, and the unrecognized costs by the regulator from 2011 to the present are 1.430 billion leva. You realize the large deficit with which the company has to operate," Petrov said.
He added that the price of heating in Sofia is low and should have been significantly higher so that the company could carry out its repairs calmly. Currently, the company's investment program is lagging behind.
"The real price of heating energy at the moment should be higher. We have declared a 30% increase, we have been approved for 5.6%," Petrov said.
According to him, the company found out about the problem in "Druzhba" after the end of the heating season, although up to this point there had been 935 complaints filed from 97 buildings about problems.
"When we made the initial measurements, we found losses of 150 tons per hour of water in this area alone. At the moment we are measuring, we are finding 250 tons, in less than 4 months this is a significant increase, which could lead to much longer shutdowns during the current heating season, said the head of "Toplofikatsiya Sofia".
After the urgent repair, the problem with heat supply in "Druzhba" 2 should be solved for the next 30 years.