Toplofikatsyia Sofia is looking into the possibility of using the fuel extracted from the mountains of the city's refuse, the chief executive of heating utility Toplofikatsiya Sofia Petko Milevski has said, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

The high-calorie fuel generated by processing refuse was far cheaper and would lower heating bills, which would be welcomed by the citizens of Sofia. Earlier this summer, Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov said that the city hall was considering a similar plan.

Sofia's refuse problem - 600 000 tons that have accumulated over years - has so far found no long-term solution, although a refuse processing plant under construction in Shishmantsi near Plovdiv, is expected to alleviate the problem somewhat when it begins operations, tentatively scheduled for 2009. Toplofikatsiya, for its part, has run into trouble meeting payments to state-owned gas firm Bulgargas and finds itself massively in debt, although at the same time it is owned tens of millions of leva in unpaid utility bills.

Milevski said that Toplofikatsyia's loss was 20 million leva for the first nine months of the year. The company's board is projecting a grimmer forecast still - further losses in spite of possible price increases for its Sofia-based customers.

"If the prices of our service do not go up, Toplofikatsyia will lose a staggering 63 million leva. If we raise prices by 10 per cent, we would be operating at a loss of 54 million leva. Should we up the price by 12 per cent, we are still in the red with a shortfall of 52 million leva," Milevski said, as quoted by Dnevnik.