Romanians in a rush to break away from public heating system

The Romanians are afraid of the gigacalorie supplied by RADET (the national heating provider), as the company makes the consumers pay for the power leaks in the network, so that increasingly more people are choosing disconnection from the public heating service: 5,000 requests have been filed so far, but their number is set to climb to 6,000 by yearend, up 50% since 2002.

“About 5,000 disconnection requests have been filed so far to RADET, as compared to the 4,000 applications we had last year. We will probably receive 6,000 requests by the end of the year. Only two thirds (more than 3,000) of those that applied for disconnection intend to actually install home heating units, with the rest opting for partial disconnection,” says Mihail Popescu, RADET secretary general.

The road from the constraints imposed by RADET to the independence and comfort secured by a heating unit must lead to a specialised store, a trend which can be clearly seen in the market.

Sales of heating equipment have soared this year as compared to 2002, increasing even five or six times in the case of certain companies.

“Heating equipment sales have surged this year, so we have sold 5-6 times more than we did last year,” says Marius Ghenea, general manager of Flanco retail chain.

According to sources at Romstal (another big player on the market), sales of heating equipment are estimated at some 20,000 units, which means the market is worth $90 million, considering a price of 440 USD/unit.

Since they are much more cost-effective than the centralised heating systems, heating units are in fact an investment that can be easily amortised in two cold seasons at most, according to analysts.

“Home heating units are best-sellers during the summer, when the RADET plants are being prepared for winter and disconnection is easier,” says Dan Ostahie, general manager of the Altex retail chain. According to Ostahie, one of the main factors behind the people’s preference for this type of equipment is the comfort level it provides.

“If someone wants a certain temperature in the apartment, they can program the heating unit to secure that exact temperature. On the other hand, if no heating is needed, the equipment can be turned off,” Ostahie states.

According to the Altex official, sales were boosted by instalments. “These products thus became available to people who could not have afforded them otherwise and would have had to settle for RADET’s offer. RADET is not a good manager and the services it provides are nor living up to expectations, which is proved by the avalanche of disconnection requests coming from the population.” 
adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro ; ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro