The council chairman Andrejs Elksniņš (Harmony party) said that due to the rising price of natural gas, which is the main source of city heating, the heating energy tariff will rise from EUR 1.09 to EUR 2.79 per square meter starting from January.
He said that in the past three months the local authority had been doing everything it could financially to avoid a heating crisis and the situation where it would have to seek state assistance. However, now the municipality is turning to the government for help, because according to the current legislation, in case of an energy crisis, the municipality has the right to request natural gas from the pre-crisis state strategic reserves at fixed prices.
The municipality will ask the Cabinet of Ministers and the Treasury to grant an interest-free loan for the working capital of the municipal heating company JSC "Daugavpils siltumtīkli" for natural gas purchases, Latvian Radio reported.
