How much the Capital City Hall has reached

The debt of the Capital City Hall to Elcen is currently 1.4 billion lei, and no lion was paid in April, on Wednesday, at a press conference, the general director of Electrocentrale Bucharest, Claudiu Crețu.

‘I will talk strictly figures, to understand the situation we are in today. And why today? April is a unique moment. In April 2025, the City Hall of Bucharest, on April 7, because the payments are made on the 7th of each month, did not pay any leu. We have a graph with payments every year. In 2020 – 300 million, then 600 million lei, in 2022 it was a peak of 1.2 billion, then they began to decrease, in 2023 – 900 million, 2024 – 800. It was paid with the keen, but every month some money came. In April, under the curtain of smoke of the election campaign or I do not know for what reason, zero lei. Zero. The debt today is 1.4 billion lei ‘, explained Crețu.

According to the data presented by him, in January 2020 the debt to Elcen was 169 million lei, in 2021 it reached 243 million lei, in 2022 to 639 million and in 2023 to 931 million lei.

‘In 2024 I jumped by billion, 1.005 billion lei. January 1, 2025 – 1.3 billion. Today, 1.4 billion. There are figures, mathematics, not stories … So, the debt to Elcen grew, and in April zero (payments). What are we heading for? I say this because we are now in the period when repairs follow, there are revisions. We need to prepare these cities for next winter season. We need to buy gases to store them. As of today, from yesterday, we are preparing next season. There is a certainty: in November 2025 the cold will come. This is a certainty. We have to prepare, we need money for repairs, we need money for gas, we need money for the salaries of the people working here, and the City Hall, in April, zero lei. These 1.4 billion from what do they compose? Payment of City Hall subsidy, which today is somewhere about 600 million and until 2-3 months ago the City Hall at least paid this part of subsidy, and the rest of the losses. For losses, 336 million were paid in 2023. In September 2023, the general mayor said that in two months, until December 2023, he will make an audit to pay the rest of the losses. From December 2023, you and we ask all the ways when that audit is made. To this day, nothing. It is not even provided by law. When are the losses pay? Quiet. It’s a year and a half since then, « said Claudiu Crețu.

He stressed that the average of the losses in the district heating network is about 2,200 tons/hour, in slight decrease in 2022 -2023.

‘So, it is really necessary and we are curious and we will see that graph of implementation, of modernizing the pipes for European money. It has been 2 half years since signed. Should have been at 50 or over 50%. It’s not. I tell you for sure, sure it is not ‘, Crețu pointed out.

For his part, the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, said that 2,192 tons of hot water flow every hour through the district heating network, as through a sieve.

‘You’ve probably heard Mr. Nicușor Dan saying: I reduced the losses, worked, took the European money. Look, there are whole sites with pipes that rust on the surface! (…) The problem is that nothing is seen. Think that 2,000 tons per hour, 2,192 tons of hot water every hour drain through the district heating network as a sieve. If a man drinks 2 liters of water a day, it means that in an hour it is half a day from Bucharest. To have a comparison term, ‘Burduja said.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Energy, since last year, ‘prays from the General City Hall’ to submit a project on non -reimbursable money from the Modernization Fund.

‘It’s the only eligible UAT in the country that can be deposited. He has submitted, after many insistence, if you remember, in the local campaign, ineligible projects declared by such external consultants. We are still waiting for Mr. Nicușor Dan, but we were probably waiting for nothing until May 4, May 5, when his movie-Cotroceniul-is over-and, probably he will return to the town hall and, who knows when, we wake up and with an eligible application to take some European money to rehabilitate them. It’s not a big amount for him, about 100 million euros, so ‘, the Burduja pointed out.

At the same time, the minister reiterated that three CETs in Bucharest are to be modernized with European funds, but there is a risk of losing this money because ELCEN cannot get co-financing due to the debts they have to recover from thermo-energy.

‘These citizens obtained through the Ministry of Energy Free Money, 361 million euros. I had an appeal for the modernization of the CETs. The whole budget of the appeal was consumed by Bucharest. Three cities: Progresu, South, Grozavești. This means that, with the start of these projects, with their completion, Bucharest will pay maintenance by half. So, the cost of Gigacaloriei in Bucharest is about three times in Oradea, twice and a half. There is a modernized system, and Elcen has started a tender, but it will be blocked when he will have to co-finance, because no bank comes to give you money when you have to collect 1.4 billion lei. Think about what this amount means in the context in which they have salaries to pay, and maintenance, and works, and gas, of course, and so on. We ask Mr. Nicușor Dan beautifully and we are at his disposal whenever he wants, at night, when he wants to see each other, to find solutions, we can start these projects, so that in 3-4 years Bucharest will have the maintenance bills. (…) Unfortunately, the truth must be said, we like it or not, that you like Mr. Nicușor Dan-most likely he does not like-but when you have thermoenergetics and you insolvenize your whole merger plan I have developed, when you have 1.4 billion lei and you can not do 361 million euros concluded the Minister of Energy