The Mayor of the Capital, Ciprian Ciucu, announced on Wednesday that the main priority is the establishment of a centralized system for the production and transport of the thermal agent, through the merger between ELCEN and Termoenergetica.
He says that the new SACET will thus reduce the expenses of the General City Hall, and the thermal agent distribution system for Bucharest residents will be more efficient.
“What does SACET mean? Centralized district heating system. At the moment we have ELCEN, which is under the Ministry of Energy, and we have Termoenergetica, which is under the City Hall of the Capital. Do you realize that if there were SACET, there would be no more penalties of hundreds of millions – money that, instead of being paid out as penalties, could go to construction sites, to repair pipes, to reduce losses. There will be no more aberrant losses, generated by exceeding the technological loss on VAT. ELCEN’s profit – because, look, ELCEN has only one big client… In fact, the only real, truly big client of ELCEN, of the Ministry of Energy, is Termoenergetica. ELCEN makes a profit of 85 million. This money is the money of the people of Bucharest; it should go to the district heating network”, said Ciprian Ciucu.
The merger between ELCEN and Termoenergetica is proposed as the only long-term solution to unify the production, transport and distribution of thermal energy in Bucharest and to save the system from financial blockages. A memorandum for the merger and for the transfer of ELCEN shares to the City Hall of the Capital was initiated and approved at the governmental level and reconfirmed through new steps in 2026. The two companies will be able to initiate the necessary legal steps, with the merger likely to be completed by next year. At the beginning of the year, Termoenergetica had debts to ELCEN of over 800 million lei, largely caused by losses in the system.
