News

20 June 2023

The Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva signalled the head of Sofia District Heating Company Alexander Alexandrov on the occasion of the abundance of complaints and signals from residents of the Buxton neighbourhood in Sofia who all of a sudden and without prior notification were left with no warm water on 12 June 2023. According to information from the hearing company, the situation would continue until 7 July 2023. Thus, in practice people appeared in a stalemate, without district heating for a month.

More than 100 complaints were submitted in the Ombudsman’s Secretariat only yesterday. Outraged citizens signalled the Ombudsman that Sofia District Heating Company failed to inform them in advance about the planned stoppage of district heating in the statutory 15-day period. The applicants complained that all consumers in the affected neighbourhood found out about this only when the district heating was stopped on 12 June 2023, while the first notifications from the heating company were received in the middle of the same day.

“The residents are not satisfied with the clarifications provided by the company that the announcement about stopping the district heating was published on the company website. On the one hand they believe that the company has failed to make sure that the information reaches all affected customers. On the other hand, the consumers do not avail of access to the technical data and thus they cannot verify when Sofia District Heating Company has published the announcement about the continuous planned repair. This is why there are some doubts that the announcement may have been posted retroactively. Currently the announcement appears on the company website at two places that are hard to reach”, the Ombudsman wrote to Alexandrov.

Prof. Kovacheva underscored that the residents were right to insist on an inspection to establish the reasons why the residents were not duly notified about the planned continuous stoppage of district heating in the Buxton neighbourhood in Sofia.

She insists that the district heating be renewed as soon as possible before 7 July 2023 and the affected households receive fair compensation.

“According to the legislation currently in force, the right to information is one of the fundamental rights of public services’ consumers. Furthermore, pursuant to Article 73(2) of the Energy Act, operators of heating networks are obliged to notify in advance their clients about the time and duration of interruptions in the supply in case of repairs, trips, start-up of new equipment and similar activities that are subject to planning”, the Ombudsman reiterates.

The public defender insisted that the company investigate the case and establish the precise date and time when the announcement about the planned repair of the heating networks in Krasno selo neighbourhood was published.

“I await your opinion whether the district heating company announced the planned repair of a duration of four weeks adequately so that to inform timely the affected consumers. I further await your opinion whether Sofia District Heating Company has complied with its duty under Article 73(2) of the Energy Act and Article 5, item 18 of the standard contract terms”, Prof. Diana Kovacheva said in her letter.