News

10 February 2023

The Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva sent a recommendation to the Chairman of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission Ass. Professor Ivan Ivanov and the Acting Minister of Energy Rosen Hristov, in which she requested extraordinary inspections of Toplofikatsia - Gabrovo EAD, related to the quality and continuity of heat supply services for household customers.

Prof. Kovacheva insisted that the citizens affected during periods of suspended or poor-quality heat supply in the current heating season be fairly compensated.

“I also find their requests for effective control by the competent institutions over the activities of Toplofikatsia - Gabrovo EAD completely justified,” the Ombudsman also wrote.

 The reason for this recommendation are complaints from citizens, as well as a letter received from the mayor of the Municipality of Gabrovo, Tania Hristova, referring to the many signals and complaints from customers of the local heating system about the systematic deterioration of the quality of the district heating supply service in the territory of the city.

“According to information provided on the website of "Toplofikatsia - Gabrovo" EAD, from the beginning of the heating season until 31 January 2023, there are 12 reports of suspended or reduced heat supply. In individual cases, about 4,500, customers of the company in the territory of Gabrovo were affected by the unplanned interruptions of the heat supply,” said Diana Kovacheva.

She pointed out that according to the information provided to the local authority by the deputy executive director of "Toplofikatsia - Gabrovo" EAD Petar Pilonov, the interruptions were due to the numerous accidents on the heat transmission network, which is owned by the company.

The mayor of Gabrovo also informed the Ombudsman that in practice there is no official information about the company's intentions for a permanent solution to the problem in order to ensure quality and continuity of the service. She also draws attention to the significant public interest concerned as a result of the irregular heat supply, especially during the heating season. She recalls that this problem is not new and has already become a reason for the escalation of social tension in the city. A request has been made that the competent authorities to take appropriate actions.

In her recommendation, Prof. Kovacheva also emphasizes that the Ombudsman's institution has received other complaints from the company's household customers, who report frequent unplanned heating shutdowns in January, as well as in the first days of February this year.

People also report that, in addition to the emergency interruptions of the service confirmed by the company, on individual days the temperature of the heat carrier in the subscriber stations was lower than the legally determined one, which led to the impossibility of normally heating their homes. They drew attention to the fact that the use of electrical appliances for heating resulted in increased heat energy consumption from the appliances for partial distribution on the radiators. Therefore they pay twice for their heating – once through their electricity bills and second time through their bills to Toplofikatsia - Gabrovo EAD for energy that was not actually supplied.

Prof. Diana Kovacheva adds that regardless of the comany’s right to suspend heat supply without prior notice to the consumers, in these cases it must inform its customers appropriately of the reasons and the duration of the suspended heat supply. This is in line with the provision of Article 42, paragraph 2 of the General Terms and Conditions for the sale of heat energy for household purposes of Toplofikatsia - Gabrovo EAD to consumers in the city of Gabrovo.

“However, an overview of the information published on the website of the company shows that in some cases the duration of the heat supply interruption is not specified”, the Ombudsman writes and adds that citizens rightly demand compensations for the periods of suspended or poor-quality heat supply.

At the same time, the Ombudsman also referred the director of the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water - Veliko Tarnovo, Maya Radeva, due to numerous reports of air pollution in the area of ​​Toplofikatsia - Gabrovo.

Citizens and local authorities complain about deteriorating air quality and accumulated soot on motor vehicles.

According to the information of the municipal administration, only in December 2022, the inspectors from OP "Regional Landfill For Non-Hazardous Waste" of Gabrovo responded to 8 signals of environmental pollution caused by the enterprise.

“As Ombudsman, I have repeatedly emphasized that the state, in the person of the relevant competent institutions, is obliged to create the necessary prerequisites to ensure the citizens' right to a healthy and favourable environment”, the Ombudsman wrote and requested an investigation into the case.