The Let’s Not Drown Belgrade Initiative announced that it believes that PUCs of Belgrade Power Plants and city government are “consciously acting contrary to the interests of citizens” by imposing additional expenditures on households over flat rates of district heating, which is why citizens paid 22 percent more in the last five years rather than the real price.
The statement said that “over the past five years, citizens have been harmed by over 212 million euros by insisting on a one-year lump sum payment, instead of allowing for heating by cost, as well as individually concluding contracts with all consumers and rationalizing consumption”.
“Although there are technical requirements for the payment of district heating on a cost basis, Belgrade Power Plants and city leaders are consciously and calculatedly refusing this, counting on additional funds that end up in the budget of the impoverished citizens in this way. It should also be said that Belgrade’s power plants, contrary to the law, correct the price only when the price of energy goes up, not when it is cheaper”, the statement reads.
The Let’s Not Drown Belgrade Initiative states that all of this “leads to the conclusion that the city government sees the price of heating as an additional source of revenue for the city budget, not a service that it should provide to citizens on the most favorable terms, which is confirmed by the fact that the excess funds of the Belgrade power plant are not used for infrastructure investment, they are already borrowing from commercial banks”.
The Let’s Not Drown Belgrade Initiative also said that PUC Belgrade Power Plants expects to answer questions on the basis of which regulations do not comply with the legal obligation under the Trade Law to indicate exactly in the specification the quantity and price of the goods they sell and charge. The initiative also asks whether the substations for the distribution of thermal energy in the Belgrade Power Plants network have calorimeters and whether this can accurately determine the amount of heat delivered per square footage heated from each substation separately.
The Initiative also asked if Belgrade Power Plants had taken a loan from commercial banks in 2016, and for what reason it was necessary if they were making a profit, as well as whether (and how exactly) the profit of Belgrade Power Plants was used to create a “budget reserves ”for colder years? – Danas reports.
