English final 2 final

No. 2, 2013

CENTRE PLUS NEWS “In this issue of the newspaper we would like briefly to review and also to introduce

you communal economy servicing companies in Lithuania. Where and when, it could be contacted for questions about heating, water supply, electricity and the administration of accommodation.”

Company “Vilniaus energija” provides heating services for more than 195 thousand apartments in a centralized way. From the 1st August, 2013, heating and hot water prices (VAT included) are as follows: 27.04 cent / kWh for monomial heating price; 19.91 LTL/ m3 is the hot water price for apartment residents and 18.99 LTL/ m3 for other users.

Knowing the prices, it is important correctly to fill in the sheet of a passbook.

So, how to do that?

Only one sheet of the passbook on both sides shall be filled in. The total amount of taxes, which is provided by account of “Vilniaus energija” at a table line “Total amount” shall be written on the 5th row of the passbook sheet. Residents who have hot water meters in their apartments have to fill in the meter readings on both sides of the sheet at line 6 “Hot Water” boxes “To”, “From” and “Difference” every month.

If the apartment is fitted with several hot water meters, the amount of all meter readings shall be counted. It is important to keep

in mind the fact that if you did not use hot water per month you have to fill the boxes “To” and “From” re-entering the last declared reading in box “To” and enter “0” into the box “Difference”. In an emergency, the meter readings can be declared precisely to onetenth, for example, 1.5 m3. The meter readings shall be declared once per current month, writing them on the 6 line of passbook on a paying day. Even though you are paying a bill for the last month, you have to declare the amount of hot water for the current month. For example,

, in October by paying the monthly bill for September you have to declare the hot water of October. The phone number of central customer service of “Vilniaus energija” is 1899.

Addresses of service centres can be found on: http://www. vilniaus-energija.lt/content/ klientu-aptarnavimo-centrai.

The main water supplier in Lithuania is UAB “Vilniaus vandenys”. It supplies with only groundwater from deep wells. . More than 90 percent of supplied drinking water is of very high

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Centre Plius News No.1, No.2, 2012 2013

A lot of useful information in English can be found on http:// www.lesto.lt/ . The address of LESTO headquarters: St. Žvejų 14, Vilnius.

Often people complain about high prices of heat and hot water, also about the issues of constant maintenance of accommodation and environmental management.

For that and other reasons, in year 1995 was passed the law of tenement houses owners association, which implements the general rights, obligations and interests of flat owners More information you can related to general house get at St. Dominikonų 11 or by telephone (8 5) 266 4455 on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 16:00 p.m. (Lunch break from 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.) or by email: info@ vv.lt. Emergency telephone number is (8 5) 266 4371. quality and meets all requirements of Lithuania and the European Union applicable to drinking water. The price of drinking water supply and waste water treatment according to the water meter readings or by water norm intake (7th passbook line) ) is 4.37 LTL/ m3. Subscription fee (3rd passbook line) is 2.37 LTL per month (if the owner of a water meter is a user), and 3.92 LTL per month (if the water meter is owned by UAB “Vilniaus vandenys”).

AB LESTO is responsible for electricity distribution networks in Lithuania. So if you are trying to get information on electricity supply which is related with the issues of contracts, electricity tariffs and tariff plans, the most convenient payment methods for services , electric energy meters or electrical hook-ups, you can call the short number 1802.

By this phone number you can register electrical breakdowns, get detailed information about the power supply failure, order a passbook, which will be send to you by mail for free, and notify about temporary non consumption of electricity. . If you are abroad, you can call the following telephone number +370 611 21802.

management, use, maintenance and handling. We encourage you to be active neighbours and find how you can contribute to the environment beautification, repair acceleration and lower heating price guarantee. The list and contacts of certified apartment community

management you can find

companies here:http://

w w w. s p s c . l t / c m s / i n d e x . php?option=com_wrapper& view=wrapper&Itemid=287 .If you have not much time and are not able to participate in community meetings, you can communicate with your neighbours and follow points at issue on online community forum: h t t p : / / w w w. m a n o b e n d r i j a . l t / b e n d r i j o s / .

“Good luck in cooperation with communal economy serving companies

and

Neighbourhood

in Active Network.”

Centre Plius News No.2, No.1, 2013 2012

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Municipal Economy and Environmental Management Services (“Vilniaus energija”, “Vilniaus vandenys”, heating suppliers and communities of housing administration) Foreigners who are living in Lithuania mostly come into contact with the companies of communal services, when they are paying utility bills or by contacting at the event of a breakdown.

Russian citizen O. M. met the representatives of “Vilniaus Energija” at a day, when a heat pipe at her home had broken down and she had to call a

of “Vilniaus Energija”: “When I called to register the failure, a woman, who spoke by telephone, was very helpful and warm. She pleasantly inquired about the problem and assured that would send the masters as soon as possible. So I did not have to wait for a long time and I could plan my day. I felt being respected.”

O. M. with her family arrived to Lithuania from St. Petersburg

had been transferred to us, we were trusted and there was no need to do such things through intermediaries.” The woman observed that after a longer period of living in Lithuania, she started to understand the system and knew with whom to contact in the event of failure, where to call or better to go.

Therefore, O. M. was happy that now she could not only to pay

master. A woman called to a center of customer service, recorded the breakdown and called a master. O. M. noted that masters came in two hours and fixed the failure. Woman noted that the masters were very polite and helpful, they spoke Russian language very well, so it did not appear any further problems and they quickly removed the failure. She was very pleased and had a positive opinion about the work of representatives

in 2007. All those six years the family lived in rented apartments, but until that failure had not experience in managing housing affairs: “It was the first time for us, when because of a failure at home it was necessary to call directly to heat providers, not to the owner of apartment. Until that day, , everything was arranged by the owner of rental property. But I was very happy that more responsibility

utility bills by herself, but also she could contact with “Vilniaus Energija” or other communal economy service companies and ask the necessary assistance, as well as in the above case.

Centre Plius News No.2, 2012

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Meanwhile, the experience of another her countryman living and studying Lithuania for three years is completely opposite and sounds disappointingly.

Man told that several months consecutively he had got extremely large bills for the public utilities. The received amounts did not fit with the declared data. During the first months the man thought that he had made a mistake recording the data, so just paid a specified amount. However, when on the third month the amount was much higher than expected, there was no doubt that the accounts were incorrect and it was needed to take some action.

S. A. made a request to “Vilniaus Energija”: “I really could not wait any longer, because I realized that I was paying quite inadequate money, so I wrote them.” Of course, the man wrote in his native Russian language and after a few days got the unpleasant and harsh response:

knowledge of foreign languages, or maybe a special computer program that would translate similar inquiries and complaints should be created: “I have no doubt that they are receiving mails in foreign languages.

Does it mean that all those cases remain unresolved?” rhetorically asked the man who is studying in Lithuania for the third year. S. A. was happy to have acquaintances who translated his request into Lithuanian language and helped to resolve the situation, but he was very disappointed with improperly functioning customer service system.

The different experiences of immigrants living in Lithuanian language. I was really confused and this had caused an Lithuania revealed the positive negative effects of outrage in me! After all, quite a and lot of foreigners live in Lithuania, institutional work. However, and the system is not designed the most important thing is the to handle them.” S. A. accented determination of such companies that in such institutions as to review and improve the “Vilniaus Energija”, quality of services and to ensure “Vilniaus vandenys” the availability not only for the should work staff with the citizens of Lithuania, but also for people of other nationalities.

“It was written that complaints and inquiries in other than the official Lithuanian language were not investigated. Also there was a postscript, that if I wanted my case to be resolved, it was necessary to represent it in

The newspaper is published, implementing the project “Consultation and information centre PLUS” according the European Fund for the Integration of third-country nationals, annual Programme 2012

CENTRE PLUS · A.Smetonos street 5, room No 302 · Vilnius Tel.: 85 261 74 82 / 8 605 77 245 Email: centre@tja.lt · www.facebook.com (search for: Centre Plus) Working days: Monday to Friday · Opening hours: 11:30 to 15:30 and 16:30 to 20:30