The heating season in Zenica, as in previous years, begins today and everything is ready for Zenica residents to feel the warm radiators in their homes.
Although the new heating plant has been in operation since last year, problems with heating could arise if there is a general strike at the company ArcelorMittal, which, as the majority owner of Toplana, manages all processes in its operation and distribution of thermal energy to the City.
Users of the central heating system in Zenica will have warm radiators from Sunday, October 15, it was confirmed by JP “Grijanje” Zenica. The company responsible for the distribution of thermal energy emphasized that the price of the service remains at the level of last season.
“Since last season, our supplier of thermal energy is Toplana Zenica, and we have already sent a request to Toplana to start charging the district heating network,” says Kemal Veledar from JP “Grijanje” Zenica.
ArcelorMittal confirms that everything is ready for the start of the new heating season in Zenica.
“We inform you that the production process of Toplana Zenica is running smoothly and regular preparatory activities for the upcoming heating season are underway,” they state from ArcelorMittal.
Although a separate joint venture was formed, Toplana Zenica, in which one of the owners is the City of Zenica, all decisions about the company’s work are made exclusively by the management of ArcelorMittal Zenica, which is the majority owner of Toplana. Due to the announced general strike of ArcelorMittal workers, it is very certain that from November 20th, there may be an interruption or reduction in the supply of thermal energy to the City.
“It will have a big impact on the city of Zenica. The mere thought that the city is left without heat means that we are going into winter and that is not right,” points out Rašid Fetić, president of the Zenica “ArcelorMittal” Trade Union.
“The majority owner of Toplana is ArcelorMittal, the City has a 20% share in ownership, it does not have the ability to make decisions and, as far as I know, it does not even have the ability to access information about how much energy is consumed, what the financial operations are like, how much energy costs… At what price is heat sold to ArcelorMittal for their technological needs, there are many open questions…” emphasizes Samir Lemeš from Eco Forum Zenica.
From the very beginning, and even today, the public in Zenica does not have enough information about the functioning of the Toplana plant, located within the ArcelorMittal factory. On the question of whether there will be a sufficient amount of thermal energy going to the City despite the general strike, overhaul or any process within ArcelorMittal that means reduced or interrupted integral production, no one gives a clear answer that about 13,000 users of the district heating system in Zenica want to hear, BHRT reports.
