Losses for Sofia heating company Toplofikatsiya would reach 22 million leva over the heating season 2007 - 2008, the company's executive director Petko Milevski said.

Toplofikatsiya’s investment programme was expecting losses of about 28 million leva for 2007, he said as quoted by Pari daily.

The losses were smaller, because some thermal heating plants has switched to using gas, instead of oil.

Lilia Mautner, head of Toplofikatsiya’s board of directors, said that debtors owed the company 169 million leva since 1999. Total debt from  municipal companies and state institutions to Toplofikatsiya was 1.7 million leva.

It was still unclear what the heating price for 2008 would be. An increase of five to eight per cent would be introduced, as a consequence of higher natural gas prices, BGNESS news agency said.

According to Pari sources, a secret meeting between State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SEWRC) and Toplofikatsiya took place where SEWRC had said that it would not allow a price increase.