Disputa Oprescu-Ponta s-ar putea incheia cu: mai puneti o patura pe voiThe Argument Between Ponta and Oprescu Might End With ‘Use an Extra Blanket’

In urma cu un an, primarul general al Capitalei, Sorin Oprescu, lansa o ipoteza socanta pentru bucuresteni: “caldura gratis”. Se intampla cu o zi inainte de semnarea memorandumului de fuziune dintre ELCEN si RADET. Evident, nu l-a crezut nimeni. Astazi, acelasi primar incearca sa arunce povara incalzirii centralizate din Bucuresti in carca ELCEN si implicit asupra guvernului Ponta. Lucrurile sunt cat se poate de evidente. Primaria are in subordine RADET, iar Guvernul (prin intermediul Departamentului pentru Energie) are in subordine ELCEN. Daca termocentralele nu furnizeaza agent termic la temperatura ceruta, RADET nu are cum sa satisfaca necesitatile consumatorilor.

Dincolo de aceasta joaca de-a soarecele si pisica, fiecare entitate responsabila de asigurarea agentului termic si a apei calde in sistemul centralizat are partea ei de vina, pentru situatia in care iarna ce se apropie ne-ar putea aduce la celebra expresie “mai puneti o patura pe voi.”

Din punct de vedere tehnic lucrurile stau, cel putin in momentul de fata, cam asa. RADET detine o retea de distributie a agentului termic in Bucuresti, a doua ca marime, dupa Moscova. Aceasta retea nu a fost “deranjata” cu nimic in ultimii 23 de ani (chiar si inainte), pentru ca investitiile ar depasi suma de 1,5 miliarde euro, iar deranjul lucrarilor ar da Bucurestiul peste cap. Cel putin asa sustin specialistii. In concluzie, pierderile pe retea pot ajunge in anumite perioade si la 40%, ceea ce se reflecta in factura consumatorilor.

La randul ei, ELCEN a pierdut in ultimii 23 de ani marii consumatori de abur industrial si de la un raport de livrare de la 1 la 5, care se inregistra inainte de 1990, s-a ajuns la un raport de la 1 la 15 in prezent. Cum se traduce acest lucru? Simplu, rentabilitatea ELCEN s-a prabusit, chiar daca aceasta companie mai produce si energie electrica, care inca o mai tine in viata. Cert este ca ELCEN nu face nici o afacere cu agentul termic si cu apa calda livrata bucurestenilor, doar in ideea in care ANRE ii aproba tarife cat de cat acoperitoare.

Aici este de fapt motivul declansarii recentului scandal. ELCEN a informat RADET despre situatia in care se afla, astfel incat ANRE sa purceada, eventual, la o majorare de tarife pentru agentul termic inca din aceasta perioada.

Altfel spus, sa fim ceva mai tehnici, cu ajutorul unui specialist in termoficare, domnul Tudor Popescu, fost director in Primaria Capitalei, pe problema incalzirii. Cantitatea de caldura necesara numai amorsarii retelei de transport secundar , de la punctul termic la cele 8500 de blocuri racordate la retea, este de peste 1000 Gcal.

Daca pornim reteua de incalzire ne trebuiesc, sa zicem, 1000 Gcal inmagazinati in retea ca sa putem incalzi zecile de mii de calorifere plecand de la o apa la temperatura de cca 55 de grade C.

Dupa amorsare, apa pleaca din punct cu cca 60 grade si se intoarce cu 50 de grade . Cu 50 intra in preincalzitorele din punctul termic si iese cu 60 preluand astfel caldura.

Daca dupa 10 zile se incalzeste afara, oprim termoficarea, cele 1000 Gcal (de fapt, estimarea este mult sub necesarul real) urmad sa se piarda in mediu . Radet nu poate factura acesta caldura, pentru ca nu a trecut prin contoarele consumatorului.

In plus, dupa ce a consumat cele 1000 Gcal ca sa amorseze instalatia , blocurile alimentate nu au consumat nimic, deoarece locatarii, in majoritate, au inchis caloriferele, asa ca si prin contoare nu a trecut cine stie ce .

Astfel raportul caldura livrata /caldura consumata este mult subunitar. Alternativa e “dusu cu presu”,adica plimbatul consumatorului pana trece “galusca”de frig. Nu este plauzibil ca ELCEN sa nu livreze caldura fiind lihnit de “foame de bani”,dupa o vara in care a functionat doar cu 5% din capacitate pentru apa calda.

Dar nici RADET, care in bugetul capitalei are alocat un deficit de circa 30 miloane de euro subventie, nu-si permite risipa de mai sus.

De ce tace ELCEN ?One year ago, the mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, launched a shocking hypothesis for his fellow citizens: free heating. This was one day before the signing of the merger memorandum between ELCEN (company operating the thermal power stations of Bucharest) and RADET (heating and hot water distributor of Bucharest). Obviously, no one believed him. Today, the same mayor tries to pass the burden of central heating of the Capital to ELCEN, and implicitly to the government led by Mr. Victor Ponta. Things are pretty obvious. The municipality controls RADET, while the government (through the Energy Department) controls ELCEN. If the thermal power stations do not supply heating water at the required temperature, RADET cannot meet the consumers’ demands.

Beyond this cat-and-mouse playing, each entity involved in providing the heating water and the hot water for the public utility has its own share of guilt, if the coming winter will bring us back to the communist-era suggestion of ‘using an extra blanket’.

Technically, at least for the time being, the situation is as follows: RADET has a heating water distribution in Bucharest which is second in size only to that of Moscow. This network has not been ‘bothered’ by anybody for the last 23 years (and even before), because the necessary investments would exceed 1.5bn euros, and the disturbances caused by the works would make Bucharest a mess. At least that’s what experts say. As a result, the network has losses of up to 40% in some circumstances, and these losses are seen on the consumers’ bills.

For its part, ELCEN has lost during the last 23 years the big consumers of process steam, and from a delivery ratio of 1 to 5 between before 1990, it has reached a current ratio of 1 to 15. What does this mean? Simply, ELCEN’s profitability has plummeted, even if the company still produces electrical energy, which keeps it alive. Surely ELCEN gets no bargain from the heating water and hot water delivered to the households of Bucharest, unless ANRE (the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority) approves prices at least close to those necessary for covering its costs.

This is actually the reason behind the latest scandal. ELCEN has notified RADET about its current condition, so that ANRE hopefully approves the immediate increase of the heating water price.

In other terms, to be more technical, with some help from a district heating expert, Mr. Tudor Popescu, former director of the municipality for the heating. The amount of heat necessary just to fill the secondary distribution network, from the reheating units to the 8500 buildings connected to the network, is more than 1000 Gcal.

Let’s assume that to start the district heating we need 1000 Gcal stored in the network, for heating the tenths of thousands of radiators, from a water temperature of approximately 55 °C.

After the filling, the water leaves the reheating unit at 60 °C, and returns at 50 °C. It enters the pre-heaters of the reheating unit at 50 °C, and leaves at 60 °C, thus taking up the heat.

If 10 days later the weather warms, we stop the heating, and the 1000 Gcal (actually, an estimate much inferior to the actual consumption) are lost in the environment. RADET cannot invoice this heat, because it did not pass through the consumers’ counters.

Moreover, after it consumed the 1000 Gcal to fill the system, the supplied buildings didn’t consume much, because most of the inhabitants have shut down their radiators, so not much has passed through the counters, either.

Thus the ratio between the delivered heat and the consumed heat is much less than 1. The alternative is ‘bamboozling’ the consumers until the cold spell is over. It is implausible that ELCEN, cash-strapped after a summer of working at 5% of its capacity, just for the hot water, does not supply heat.

But neither can RADET, with a deficit around 30mn euros in subventions earmarked in the municipal budget, afford this waste.

Why is ELCEN mute?