The drop in costs is due to a lower gas price as well as heating utilities having made their job more effective and started to use local fuel. "The homework for the heating utilities has reached its goals," said Akermanis.
The largest decrease in heating costs is seen in Rīga, where the price has shrunk 18%. It's also rather low in Valmiera.
However, the decrease in monthly rent payments may not be as steep as in 2016 it is projected to tax the previously tax-free maintenance costs for flats with the VAT, which stands at 21% in Latvia.
The heating season has started early in Latvia with LETA reporting that "the heat is on in Riga" as on October 7 as many as 43.8% of public buildings in Rīga had their heating turned on.
