RIGA, June 1 (LETA) - By the next heating season, apartment utility bills could increase twofold, Rigas Namu Parvaldnieks (RNP) municipal housing management company's CEO Ronalds Neimanis said in an interview with TV3 on Wednesday.

During the last heating season, heating bills increased by about 60 percent in Riga, however, customers' debts rose only 30 percent. When the heating supply ended, customers' total debt for heating stood at EUR 3.9 million in April, while by now it has dropped to EUR 1.2 million. Neimanis predicts that the total debt amount by the beginning of the next heating season could be around EUR 1 million.

In order to avoid the situation when heating is not supplied to the entire building because of just one resident's debts, RNP has spoken to a number of institutions, and the Economics Ministry is now working on new amendments. If the amendments are endorsed, only 70 apartment buildings in Riga will remain at risk the next heating season.

This year, residents used the opportunity to pay their bills later, but the moratorium on fines has ended with when the state of emergency was lifted, and penalties for overdue bills are applied once again, said Neimanis.

RNP is not planning to increase the fee for its services this year, but from January the fee could increase by at least 10 percent to 20 percent, added Neimanis.