Municipalities should seek additional funding to cover heating costs for the poor in a timely manner

“What has not been experienced and how it will be next year – no one knows,” Association of Heating Companies, explaining that gas prices have become unpredictable.

Member of the Board of the Association Valdis Vītoliņš noted: “Such a situation has not been seen yet, that there is such a large dispersion between tariffs. Nothing can be done there, it is a free market. And this is the situation we are in this year, this is the first time. When in the spring the price was really 25-30 euros per megawatt hour, then the companies just thought that they would have to wait, because in the summer the price usually falls. And this year the opposite happened. The price went up in the summer, and then you think, “We’re buying now, or it’s really high, maybe it’ll drop.” By now, everyone has realized that she will not fall anywhere for the next two to four months. “

This means that if a company that serves the municipality and uses gas as fuel, a contract was concluded for example, in March, the company buys gas for the entire heating season for, for example, 30 euros per megawatt hour. But if the company waited, hoping for a better price, then now it is forced to sign a contract – buying gas for more than twice the price.

The Union of Local Governments of Latvia pointed out that so far rarely does a farm experience a rise in prices. However, local governments need to start thinking now about where to take funds to compensate for the increase in energy prices.

LAS adviser Aino Salmiņš said: “Probably not only needy families who need help will appear, but other focus groups will probably appear, such as large families. or simply families with children. ”

The Union of Local Authorities estimates that there are currently around 150,000 protected people who will need support. It is expected that there could be more of them.

“The craziest moment is that there is currently no section in next year’s budget to compensate for the additional costs associated with higher energy prices in the municipal section.

The current situation is that we have to relinquish some of our functions in order to offset possible cost increases. It is difficult to say, but in any case in several tens of millions local governments will have to take it into account, ”Salmiņš admitted.

The Saeima Commission for Sustainable Development calls on the government to evaluate the possibility of increasing support for covering bills. According to the calculations of the Ministry of Economics, based on the price increase, another 17.5 million euros are needed to provide support to protected users.

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