"I requested an amount from the Prime Minister's reserve fund to find CAFs (hot water boilers - editor's note) that are needed in Bucharest and Craiova, as temporary solutions, until the installation of new systems that will operate for 30 years," Energy Minister Bogdan Ivan declared on Monday at the end of the National Energy Command.
"We have submitted a new draft regulatory act requesting an amount from the Prime Minister's reserve fund to find those CAFs (hot water boilers - ed.) that we need both in Bucharest and Craiova, as temporary solutions, until we can install new systems that will operate for 30 years. We will have at least two or three winters in which we will have to work in a state of emergency," the minister said.
According to him, if the money from the reserve fund is not allocated, the necessary funds will be included in the draft budget for 2026.
"Investments must start now, through a public procurement procedure to ensure that we will support the energy system in the two cities this winter. If we do not invest these amounts of money punctually, approximately 40 million euros in the two cities, and next year, and in two and three years, we will be in the same situation, in the same picture, perhaps with different actors, but certainly in a situation where people do not have hot water and heat in the capital of the country and in one of the largest cities in Romania," declared Bogdan Ivan.
The mayor of Craiova, Olguta Vasilescu, stated in the first week of the year that Electrocentrale Craiova, the producer of thermal energy for the city, has serious financial and operational problems and desperate efforts are being made to get through this winter.
"What is happening now at Electrocentrale Craiova is the result of years of mockery of Craiova residents, as a result of the lack of allocation of money for repairs. Electrocentrale Craiova separated from CEO Oltenia, a company based in Targu Jiu and which, at least in the last 10 years before the separation, did not make any investment that would reduce pollution or lead to the normal functioning of the 50-year-old installations. (...) Electrocentrale Craiova has serious problems, both financial and operational, desperate efforts are being made to get through this winter, and Craiova City Hall is going to develop a new production capacity, for which it has already taken all the necessary legal steps, because where the Government is not interested in its own companies, we had to find another solution," Vasilescu wrote on Facebook, after the city left without heat due to a failure in both energy groups.
Electrocentrale Craiova, subordinated to the Ministry of Energy, went bankrupt last year. Olguta Vasilescu also said that the municipality has begun the process of building its own power plant.
Craiova City Hall sent a letter of intent in July 2025 for the purchase from Electrocentrale of the assets necessary for the production of the heat agent: the land, buildings and technological installations related to the heat agent transport system currently owned by the company.
Electrocentrale Craiova produces the heating agent for the municipality of Craiova and the primary heating agent for the Ford Otosan company.
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