Piaseczno. They live in a municipal block. They have to pay almost PLN 20,000 for heating

Mrs. Eliza, who lives in a 13-square-meter municipal apartment in Piaseczno, at Puławska Street, informed the editorial office of Kontakt 24 about the astronomical heating bills. According to the woman, the bill for heating and hot water she received amounted to PLN 17,500. Moreover, Mrs. Eliza's neighbors are also struggling with a similar problem. Their bills amount to PLN 16,000 to PLN 20,000.

– We are devastated because we don't even have anyone to contact. I went to the Head of the Housing Department, who informed me that I could submit a letter for relief or payment in installments, which for me is a scandal. 70 percent of the bill is for central heating, and 30 percent is for water heating, and it clearly does not match our use – says Mrs. Eliza in an interview with the Kontakt 24 editorial office.

– I called to ask about the rates, we thought that maybe they charged us like entrepreneurs. There is no consumption on the bills we received, the rates given by the energy supplier do not match at all – he adds.

A resident of Piaseczno explained that 10 families from the block live in partially renovated apartments. Some of the premises have not been renovated, and the rest are empty. – Did someone forget to turn off the heating in the empty rooms and now the rest have to make up for it – the woman wonders. He complains that there is no information from the office.

At the Piaseczno town hall, we asked why the bills were so high and whether there could have been a mistake when calculating the amounts.

As Joanna Ferlian-Tchórzewska, spokeswoman for the Piaseczno City and Commune Office, explains, the building at Puławska 42A, which is affected by the problem, is supplied with heat from a boiler room belonging to an entrepreneur who runs a hotel adjacent to the block.

– A common boiler room has been heating both buildings since the times when former industrial plants operated in this area. Due to the energy crisis and a drastic increase in gas prices, which the entrepreneur had to buy on the free market and was not covered by government protective shields, the costs of heating a municipal building increased sixfold – informs Joanna Ferlian-Tchórzewska.

The representative of the office explains that the commune “anticipating a drastic increase in the costs of heating a municipal building, asked the Ministry of Climate to take this situation into account and provide lower gas purchase rates also for the company that heats the residential building, but the answer was negative.”

– The heating costs presented to the commune by the heat supplier had to be settled in accordance with the regulations on utility charges, and hence the residents received very high bills for heating the premises and heating the water. It is worth noting that the costs are also borne by the commune in the case of premises that currently have no tenants – says Ferlian-Tchórzewska. He emphasizes that heating is billed based on the area of ​​​​the premises.

– Unfortunately, the commune could not waive these fees from the residents top-down, because it would be exposed to accusations of violating public finance discipline. However, we understand that the situation is very difficult and we are ready to consider individual applications and work out some form of relief. For this, it is necessary for individual tenants to submit applications, and some of them have already submitted such applications – points out the office spokeswoman.

On Monday, a meeting of the residents of the block with the deputy mayor of Piaseczno was held at the city hall. Zuzanna Bieńkowska, a TVN24 reporter, was on site.

Joanna Ferlian-Tchórzewska was asked how heating fees in a municipal building are calculated. – The bills result from the regulations. The basic amount is a divided bill that the commune receives from the heat supplier. The entire amount of over PLN 300,000 was divided into the premises that are part of this building. The commune pays for the part that is not inhabited, she explained. She added that the remaining part of the bill was divided between the premises, according to square footage.

So what about the future heating of the building? – The construction of a boiler room requires extensive formal preparations and securing funds in a short period of time – noted Joanna Ferlian-Tchórzewska.

The city was considering connecting the building to district heating. However, there are problems here too. – There is no such possibility for now – said Ferlian-Tchórzewska. As she explained, connecting to the city network requires modernization, connection, extension and construction of installations to this building. – Of course, if it were possible, we would have done it a long time ago, also due to our costs. We try to ensure that as many buildings in our commune as possible are connected to district heating, she added.