Heating in Riga – tariffs and myths: the investigation is led by deputies 0 7

The Opposition "for" in full force

So, last week the parliament approved the creation of the third parliamentary investigative commission in this Saeima. Notably, the initiative to create the investigative commission was supported by all 5 opposition factions of the Saeima.

Let us remind you that in this Saeima, the first investigative commission was established to investigate the consequences of the "major overhaul" of the financial system initiated by then Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, which led to the collapse of three banks.

Then the deputies created a commission to investigate the implementation, or rather the non-implementation, of the century project Rail Baltica.

And now it is time for the third parliamentary investigation - this time the deputies want to understand the reasons for the increase in the heat energy tariff (heating) in Riga by the company "Rīgas siltums".

In the previous Saeima, there were two parliamentary investigations, which even the former deputies probably do not remember. The first was dedicated to investigating the circumstances of the introduction and application of OIK - the fee for the mandatory component of green energy, and the second investigation concerned the actions of officials during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Someone is "warming up" someone

But let us return to the current parliament and the parliamentary investigative commission on the tariffs of "Rīgas siltums" created last week. One of the main criticisms of the tariff policy of "Rīgas siltums" is the existing practice where the heat energy produced by the CHP is released into the atmosphere, rather than used in centralized heating, while more expensive heat energy is purchased from private merchants. "This not only leads to excessive costs but also results in double environmental pollution, violating both national and EU regulations," believe the creators of the commission.

It is difficult to say how effective this parliamentary investigation will be and whether it will lead to a reduction in tariffs. But one thing is clear - the commission will provide the deputies with an additional platform, yet another reason to remind themselves in the information space, which is quite timely given the fact that the election campaign has practically already begun.

By the way, it is a pity that the deputies decided to limit their investigation exclusively to heating tariffs, and specifically in one city. In fact, the parliamentarians should have long ago "gone through" the entire tariff policy - for water, electricity, and all other public services. But it seems that this is not going to happen in the current Saeima...