The Bucharest public heating system will undergo changes to when it is provided, as well as technical upgrades to allow for a faster on and off switch.

Amid the low temperatures in Romania these days, Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea convened on Wednesday a bad weather commandment at the City Hall to check if the public service companies are ready for the rainfall and low temperatures announced by the meteorologists.

During the meeting, Firea announced that she would request changing the legislation on the public heating system, which provides the conditions under which the heating system is turned on or off, reports local Mediafax.

At present, Bucharest thermal energy distributor RADET can only start providing heat to households in the capital if the temperature drops below 10 degrees Celsius between 18:00 and 06:00, for three consecutive days. However, the mayor wants that condition changed.

“We’re trying to meet as soon as possible the conditions for getting EU funds worth EUR 187 million to revamp and modernize the heating system, so that the system’s shutdown and restart can be done more easily, without any damage,” Firea said.

RADET announced on Tuesday, immediately after meteorologists issued alerts of bad weather, that it would restart the public heating system later the same day.

“We are in a new situation, we have to restart the heating system after stopping it two weeks ago. The restart is pretty slow, and it took some time until the system was balanced, but we estimate that the heat will reach radiators across Bucharest until today, at 2 PM, but only where homeowners associations have decided to open the block valves,” RADET manager Gabriel Chirita said during the Wednesday meeting at the City Hall.

Meanwhile, representatives of the National Administration for Meteorology warned that Bucharest would be under a yellow code of heavy rainfall starting Wednesday afternoon, and the temperature will drop below zero towards the end of the week.

“Friday morning will bring temperatures close to 0 degrees Celsius, while temperatures will drop below zero on Saturday morning,” said Romanian meteorologists Gabriela Bancila.

The weather got bad throughout Romania starting Tuesday afternoon, with snow returning to mountain areas. Romanian meteorologists issued yesterday alerts for rain in most of the country, as well as orange alerts for snow in the mountain areas.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com