Sofia city hall was contemplating the transfer of debts owed by customers to heating utility Toplofikatsyia Sofia to a bank interested in performing the duties of a debt collector for an alleged 10 per cent interest fee, the chairperson of the municipal council Andrei Ivanov has said.

This kind of solution was legal and permissible by the current legislation, Ivanov said, adding that he did not expect a shortage of applications for the contract. The municipality would do everything in its power to collect the sum that is owed to Toploficatsyia in order to assure proper and regular service during the approaching winter, Ivanov said, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

Toploficatsiya claims to be owed about 200 million leva, in which case the debt collector would pocket 20 million. To boost the collection of debt and decrease gas expenditures, the utility has halted hot water supply to apartment buildings in Sofia that are overdue half or more of their collective bill.

Since the measure affected customers that have paid their bills on time, the Commission for the Protection of Competition have launched a probe against Toploficaciya on suspicions of misconduct, mismanagement and abuse of power.

About two thirds of Toplofikatsiya's customers were in danger of being left without heating this winter because their neighbours had overdue heating bills, the utility's chief executive Petko Milevski told Novinar daily on October 10. Customers in buildings affected by the cut would either have to pay up, so that Toplofikatsiya can settle its own debts with state gas company Bulgargas, or face a nippy winter, Milevski said.

Bulgargas has cut the supply of gas to Toplofkatsiya by 35 per cent, which made it impossible for the utility to provide central heating.

Toploficatsiya's predicament was somewhat eased by the 55 million leva cash injection from the municipality, but the money was not expected to be transferred for at least another month, whereas the scheduled commencement of the heating season is at the end of October.