More than half of heat consumers who installed distributors paid more than those who did not have distributors, says Radu Opaina, president of the Federation of Owners’ Associations in Romania and former director of RADET. He says that these injustices are absurd and will continue as long as it is possible to turn off the radiator and get warm from the neighbors. The law adopted by the parliament at the end of last year provides for the mandatory installation of distributors on radiators until December 31, 2024, and this deadline has been extended several times.

About 60% of owners with distributors pay more for heat than owners of houses without distributors, which is absurd from all points of view, says Radu Opaina.

He posted on Facebook a table of maintenance costs that appeared in November 2023 in an apartment building where some residents installed individual radiator meters and others did not.

“The paradox is that these owners practically do not know that they are being cheated month after month, paying, almost double, with their eyes closed for what they practically did not consume. In Romania, about 500,000 people are cheated every month. A massive deception perpetuated and supported by government officials. I am adding one case out of a thousand,” he writes on the social network.

He explained to HotNews.ro that the installation of switchboards creates inequality between neighbors if it is possible to close the switchboard and heat by other methods.

“Some close the distributors and heat from the neighbors, through the walls, through the pipes that pass through the apartments, or with gas from the stove in a common installation. These costs are not included in the heat bill of the apartment that closes the radiators, but in the bill of all other neighbors. Thus, some pay very little or nothing at all, while the costs of others increase. More precisely, some pay for others,” Opaina explained.

In addition, most distributors on the market are of very low quality, they are not approved, but they are very expensive (approximately 750 lei for a four-room apartment).

Individual accounting would make sense if the law prescribed the minimum temperature that should be in the house, and distributors did not allow closing radiators, he believes.

“It’s just getting cold now, but watch the discussions when the bills for January and February arrive,” Opaina added.

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Claudio Kretsu, CEO of Elcen, recently said the same thing.

At the end of last year, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law according to which it is mandatory to install distributors on all radiators by December 31, 2024; in recent years, the deadline has been extended several times.

Claudio Kretsu warned that the measure to impose distributors risks igniting huge scandals in the owners’ associations if other measures are not taken, such as the introduction of a minimum temperature that we will have to maintain in apartments.

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