Common house water, heat and electricity meters are devices that take into account the utilities coming to the whole house.
Moreover, according to the housing legislation of the Russian Federation, the devices are equally owned by all people living in an apartment building. Their cost, as well as the costs of the necessary work on their installation and maintenance should be distributed among all.
The entire amount of water, heat and electricity that enter the house are paid by its tenants in accordance with the indications that display the common house meters. In the case of electricity, this amount is then divided into apartment expenses and general house expenses, for which all residents of the house must pay. It includes the energy spent on lighting stairwells, elevators, basements, attics, as well as necessary for the operation of intercoms and outdoor lighting systems. Household metering devices are precisely those devices that allow you to accurately determine the amount of electric energy entering the house and correctly calculate the value of the needs of the entire apartment building upon consumption.
Common house water meters record water
flow rates not separately for apartments, but immediately throughout the house. They do not show in which particular place less or more water is consumed. However, at the same time, these devices take into account all the leaks that are in the house, including in the water supply systems located in the basements. Practice shows that the installation of common-house water metering allows reducing
utility costs by about one third. This is due to the control of both water consumption and other indicators of water supply.
The heat meters installed on the house help consumers effectively control the heat supply process and not overpay for this one of the most expensive resources. Residents can install such devices on their own, having turned to any specialized company for help, or they can wait until the heat supply company will carry out the necessary work. Installation of such equipment and its maintenance is, of course, a financially costly undertaking, but ultimately it helps to optimize costs and save material resources.
Separately, it is worth emphasizing that, starting in 2012, a law came into force in the Russian Federation, according to which common-house meters must be purchased for all apartment buildings. To date, the failure to comply with this decree does not entail any penalties, but from 2014 a gradual increase in tariffs will begin for all those who have not purchased this equipment. This is another serious reason to buy and install common house meters for metering water, heat and electricity.