Heating bills for January have come as a surprise to some residents. For example, a resident of Vilnius’ Old Town shared that she doesn’t know how to react, as she will have to pay as much as 605 euros for this service. “Gijos” admitted that such a bill is unusually high and explained what caused it.
The cold hit hard in January, and this was reflected in heating bills. Vilnius residents shared with Delfi on Monday evening what amounts they will have to pay – for some, they have doubled compared to January last year.
However, these bills certainly do not compare to the one received by Vilnius In the old town, Audronė (real name and surname known to the editorial staff) lives on Rūdninkų Street.
“First of all, I don’t even know how to really react: because without hot water and the heating fee, the amount for heating alone is 605 euros,” she shared, adding that the apartment is about 90 square meters in size and has a boiler.
About 52 euros of this amount is a fee for the assigned amount of heat for the building’s general needs. There is an office nearby, but according to Audronė, it is not very easy to find out what exactly is being paid for.
“It turns out that the premises are disconnected and we have no way of finding out what the square footage is, what kind of premises there are, they don’t provide data. That’s how we pay,” the woman said.
“I don’t know how older people will cope”
The house is not renovated, but was restored around 1992, according to the interviewee, the windows were recently replaced and are wooden.
“It’s not torn or blown. Previously, the largest bills didn’t exceed 300 euros, but this year I don’t know what’s going on. We paid 324 euros for December, 209 euros for November. But this is definitely a record,” she mused.
The woman does not intend to apply for compensation, but said she is curious if there are more people who have received particularly hefty bills.
“Elderly people also live here, I don’t know how they will cope, because last year a neighbor applied for compensation, but found out that she didn’t deserve it, supposedly she lives well,” the interviewee wondered.
Bill differences are determined by energy efficiency
In response to Delfi’s questions, the energy company Gijos (formerly Vilnius heat networks) communications team manager Monika Merkytė indicated that the account in question is indeed unusually large and stands out in the context of all the company’s clients.
“It is important to understand that the size of heating bills is determined by several factors: the price of heat, the outdoor air temperature, the energy efficiency of the building, and individual heat consumption habits. If the price of heat and the outdoor air temperature were the same for all Vilnius residents, then the energy efficiency of the building would differ,” commented M. Merkytė to Delfi.
According to her, the size of the heated area is also important: the larger the apartment in terms of area or volume, for example, the higher the ceilings, the more heat is used.
According to the information provided, the apartment, which is almost 100 sq m in area, is located in the Old Town – this part of the city is characterized by energy-inefficient buildings that consume an unusually large amount of heat energy, the representative said.
“This is also evidenced by the total heat consumption of the building you mentioned. In January, it reached 49,222 MWh. This means that it took as much as 58,285 kWh to heat one square meter of this building, when in other buildings the average heat consumption per square meter is about 24 kWh.”
“Due to the extremely cold January, this factor is particularly reflected in the heating bills of residents of energy-inefficient buildings. The heating bills of such houses are at least 40 percent higher than those of renovated ones,” commented a representative of “Gijai”.
Advises to modernize the heating station
Another important reason explaining the size of the bill is the maintenance of the building’s internal heating systems. The company’s data shows that the heating station in this building is old and not modernized. There are currently about 300 of these left in Vilnius.
This means that the parameters of this heat point are adjusted manually, after the supervisor appointed by the building administrator or the community physically arrives at the location. And automated heat points respond to temperature changes in real time and automatically regulate the heat flow to the radiators. In this way, heat energy is used much more efficiently and economically. By modernizing the building’s heat point alone, it would be possible to save up to 15 percent. heat, said M. Merkytė.
“The heating station of a house is an important engineering part of the entire building, for which the residents are responsible. We have already invited the owners of the premises of this house to take advantage of the currently active Vilnius city municipalities support that finances a significant part of the costs of modernizing a heating station.
You can still apply for the renewal of your heating point by e-mail. [email protected]“, – advised M. Merkytė.
In conclusion, the representative noted that the client’s unusually high bill perfectly illustrates the high heating costs experienced by residents of old, unrenovated houses with technologically outdated internal heating systems.
“We recommend that the residents of this building discuss among themselves the possibility of renovating the building or at least take advantage of the support and modernize the heating station. This would help significantly reduce heating costs,” she said.
Explaining the fee for heating for general purposes, M. Merkytė said that this is the amount of heat consumed in the common areas of the building and in the building’s heating system pipelines when delivering heat from the heat point to consumers’ apartments.
“When heating devices in common areas or common areas are not installed or legally dismantled, 10 percent of the heat consumed for heating the house is attributed to common needs, because according to the laws of physics, heat moves to where it is colder through partitions or other building structures. This is provided for by legal acts,” she concluded her answer.
Author: Kornelija Mykolaitytė, DELFI.lt
