District heating started two days early, and so did the breakdowns: Skopje's Museum, a school and a police station without heat

Skopje's heating season began two days early, on Tuesday, October 13, instead of the official October 15. The rules allow it as soon as the forecast average daily temperature falls to 12 degrees or lower. The cold arrived on time. The heat - not everywhere.

On the very first day some customers were left without heating. According to ESM Heat Distribution, the cause was "increased water losses in the distribution network". There were outages in Centar and in the Old Bazaar, and temporarily for some customers in Kisela Voda, Aerodrom and Avtokomanda.

For most customers in Centar and the Bazaar, supply has been restored. But still without heating for now are the police station in Prolet, the National Conservation Centre, the Museum of Macedonia and the Jašar Bej Škupi primary school. ESM says its crews are on site and working hard on the faults.

The heating is more expensive too. This is the first full heating season under the prices set by the Energy Regulatory Commission on July 27. For households on Skopje's largest network, ESM, the average increase from August 1 is 5.96 percent: the average monthly bill rises from around 2,353 to 2,493 denars. For Energy Ecolink customers in Čair and Butel the adjustment averages around 3.6 percent, and through ESM Energetika around five percent.

"Water losses in the network" is an explanation that sounds technical, but it says something simple: the pipes that carry Skopje's heat are leaking. Every loss is heat and money that someone has already paid for. How much water does the network lose each year, and how much of that ends up on residents' bills? If the price is going up, people have a right to know whether money is going into the pipes - or only into the tariffs.