Hoodie weather is over. Riga’s radiators are next.
Rīgas namu pārvaldnieks (RNP), the city-owned company that runs more apartment blocks than anyone in Riga, plans to start the heating season on Monday, 12 October. And for the first time ever, no building gets left cold over unpaid bills.
When your block warms up
RNP has a rule for this. Heat comes on once it’s properly cold: three straight days without the air getting above 14°C, a dip to 8°C at some point, and more of the same in the forecast. The forecast says Monday clears that bar.
Not every radiator at once, though. Heat goes on building by building over three days. If the block across the yard is toasty Monday night and yours isn’t, give it till Wednesday.
Ten buildings didn’t wait. Flat owners there voted to start early, and their heat is already on. Any RNP block can pick its own date the same way. In energy-renovated buildings, you set the heat in your own flat.
Nobody cut off for debt
Rīgas Siltums, the city’s district heating company, can refuse to connect a building where residents paid less than 80% of their bills over the past year. This year RNP says none of its buildings are at risk. Around 84% of its customers pay on time each month; over a full year, it’s 99%.
What it costs
Since 1 October, the Rīgas Siltums heat tariff is €80.96 per MWh before VAT, a touch under last season’s €83.01.
Don’t get comfy. In September the company said natural gas on the market is up about 142% and biofuel 43% since that tariff was worked out, and it expects the heat tariff to climb roughly 20–30%. It has already bought 73% of the gas it needs for the season.
Old Town gets an extra workaround. Around Dom Square, Rīgas Siltums is still rebuilding pipes and has laid temporary lines so the heat keeps flowing. Riga already knows the drill this autumn, from the Ziepniekkalns overpass closure to the €20 million Vanšu bridge fight.
Not an RNP building? Your manager or residents’ association sets its own start date, so ask them. Problem once the heat’s on: Rīgas Siltums runs a free 24/7 line at 800 000 90, and RNP’s emergency line is 8000 8989.
Radiators Monday. Scarves till then.
