Most of those who live in apartment buildings in our cities worry whether they have the legal right to use water without installing a meter. And also - whether the water utility is able to force them to make a similar installation. Many questions also arise in connection with the introduction of the so-called increasing coefficient on water.
Metering device - set or not?
According to many, there are not so many real benefits from installing a meter on water. At the same time, considerable funds have to be spent on its installation, which not every family can afford. Residents (owners) of city apartments, which have not yet acquired meters, pay according to state-defined average water standards per person living. At the same time, for some time now, increasing coefficients to water consumption standards have been introduced into practice, which we will discuss below.
According to just such average standards, until recently, all calculations were carried out. But the situation has changed since 2015. And today we will consider in detail whether anyone (the state, management company, etc.) has the right to force a citizen - the owner of the apartment - to install a water meter. And also what sanctions are fraught with refusing this procedure and who has the right to ignore this issue.
What are the pay rates without a meter?
As a rule, a water utility is installed for those residents who live without installing a meter, payment at a uniform rate. Let’s first understand what kind of tariff it is. There is a similar situation throughout the country. How much, according to the state, does each of us consume?
Approved above, the regulation accepts a monthly consumption rate of cold water by each resident equal to about 7 cubic meters (to be absolutely accurate - 6, 935). If the apartment is equipped with a multi-point gas flow heater, this value should be multiplied by a special raising factor for water and assigned equal to 10 m³. If this is installed only in the bathroom, the indicator is taken equal to 9.5 "cubes". If the house is not equipped with a bathroom, the reduction factor is applied, and the norm decreases to 4.57 m³. When it comes to hot water, the standard is slightly lower and equal to 4.7 cubic meters per month.
Armed with a calculator
From these calculations, we see that the water utility "releases" each of us about 11 and a half "cubes" of water per month. Through simple calculations (we translate in liters and divide by 30 days) we get more than 380 liters per day for each. For comparison: a filled bath contains about 250 liters. That is, it is understood that, without exception, all family members take a bath every day (which actually is not) and use, in addition, at least 130 liters of domestic water.
According to studies, on average, people consume about two cubes of hot and three - cold water. That is, without a counter, we overpay for about 6 cubes every month. And the amount in the receipt is overestimated in comparison with the real one by about half.
We save with the counter
In order to dispel the remaining doubts about the advisability of installing a meter, one should take into account the fact that the obligation to pay for water every month does not disappear even in a situation of real absence of people in the apartment (departure of tenants). By installing the device, you will only have to pay for the amount actually used up. That is, for all periods of your absence, you have the opportunity to save a considerable amount. The main thing is not to forget about the regular obligation to report the meter readings to the water utility.
It is psychologically difficult for some people to spend a lot of water immediately after installing the meter. They are afraid of huge amounts in receipts. But you should not worry about this. As practice shows, real consumption is most often a couple of times less than that which is accepted as an average indicator.
Calculate the benefits
All the benefits are evident in the case of registration of the full family in this particular apartment. Given the increased tariffs for payment in the absence of the meter, from July 1, 2015, these costs have increased significantly. A similar device is installed for an amount of 20 to 60 at. e., but the costs can be large if it is necessary to prepare a place or a certain reconstruction in the layout of the apartment.
In the aforementioned case (registration of all family members at the place of residence), it is difficult to dispute the benefit. Within a few months, the expense of installing the device will pay off. But what if one (maximum two people) is registered, but four or five really live? In most such situations, apartment owners refuse to set meters.
More recently, according to the law, any homeowner had the full right to independently decide on this issue. According to a decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, no one has the right to force you to carry out the procedure for setting up the meter . Including the water utility itself was not authorized in this matter. That is, this issue was decided at the discretion of the owner of the apartment.
What changed
But according to Article 13 of the Law "On Energy Saving ..." (No. 261), from 2015, every citizen of the Russian Federation is obliged to acquire water, heat and electric energy meters. From the very beginning of this act, a penalty has been provided for unidentified metering units for management companies. Obviously, over time, such sanctions may apply to ordinary residents.
The standard time allowed to ordinary apartment owners to install the unit is three and a half years from the date the law was issued. In the first two and a half of them it was allowed to put the device at the expense of a water utility. That is, the water meter cost the owner virtually free. The last year of this period, the installation fee was assigned to the tenant himself.
It would seem that the benefits of a quick and timely acquisition of the meter lie on the surface. But only 60% of the total population went for it.
About the possibility of forced installation
Some apartment owners, due to their own legal incompetence, are afraid of the possibility of employees of management companies coming to their home for the purpose of forced installation of devices. Some of the people mistakenly believe that in the case of resistance by tenants, it is possible for the water utility staff to contact the police.
What really is? The regulatory document clarifies that providing access to the apartments of employees of the governing body is the responsibility of citizens. But this is far from equivalent to the inevitability of a forced installation of the counter. In fact, this event is still a purely personal decision of each apartment owner. No fines or sanctions are currently provided for uninstalled water meters. An increase factor is the way to punish intractable residents. With each half-year, owners of apartments that are not equipped with meters, pay more and more.
Cold and hot water - increasing coefficient by years
Such coefficients have been introduced in the Russian Federation since 2015. According to them, tariffs are calculated for those subscribers who still do not use water aggregates. It is for them that utility bills are constantly and steadily increasing. The dynamics of price increases can be traced in numbers:
Since the beginning of 2015, the increasing coefficient for cold water (as well as for hot) has been 1, 1.
The second half of the same year brought an increase of 0, 1 (that is, it became equal to 1.2).
During the first half of 2016, an increased coefficient for water without 1.4 meters was used.
From the middle to the end of the same 2016, it grew to 1.5.
Well, what is the increasing coefficient on water now? Since the beginning of 2017, its value is 1.6.
What follows from this
Judging by the dynamics of growth of the increasing coefficient to the standard for water, the conclusion is clear - payment for utilities is growing and will continue to increase in the future. If in January 2015, residents without a meter had to pay only 10% more than in December 2014, then in January 2017 the difference was already 60%. It is no secret that such a price increase for the pockets of ordinary citizens is very, very tangible.
The goal of introducing an increased coefficient on hot water (as well as cold) by the state and public utilities was to encourage citizens to quickly switch to a system of accounting for consumed resources using appropriate devices. But despite all the efforts of the authorities, the universal installation of counters did not happen.
When it all started
The very idea of introducing an increasing coefficient on water and other resources appeared quite a long time ago - since 2011. A little later (namely in 2013), its application was officially fixed in the adopted Decree of the Government of Russia No. 344. In addition to it, there are Rules 306, which spelled out the regulation of consumption standards for each of the utilities. It was this document that played a leading role in calculating by the regional authorities the size of the increasing coefficient for water, heat, electricity and the adoption of standards for the consumption of communal resources.
It should be emphasized once again that we are talking about the residents of those houses in which there is a technical possibility of installing metering devices in case of their conscious failure. In the same place where the conditions do not allow the installation of meters, other standards have been adopted.
In what cases the device is not placed
Despite the recommendations of the water utility for the widespread installation of metering devices, not every apartment owner can use this right. In what cases will you have to do without a counter?
1. When the building or structure where your home is located is officially recognized as emergency or dilapidated.
2. If the installation of the device with a water supply system is impossible without major repairs of the networks or the entire house.
3. The device must not be installed in non-compliance with accepted standards.
4. The unit must not be installed on water pipes that are in poor or emergency condition.
5. When the operating conditions of the meter are not suitable for its normal operation. We are talking about increased humidity, temperature or the presence of electromagnetic waves. In this case, the devices should not be installed, and existing ones need to be decommissioned.
Practical tips
What to do if you fall into one of the categories listed above, but nevertheless receive receipts for payment with a higher coefficient? Your actions in this case should be as follows:
1. Call the employee of the Criminal Code, who will inspect the place where the device is mounted, to assess the condition of the water pipes and the entire room.
2. His duty is to draw up an appropriate act with a clear indication in it of the reasons for the impossibility of installing accounting equipment. The document must necessarily contain specific data - house and apartment numbers, street name.
3. If you already use the device, but its operating conditions have changed and ceased to correspond to normal, then you have the right to make a request to dismantle the unit before correcting the current state.
In general, each apartment owner decides independently whether it makes sense for him to keep records of water consumption according to the meter or to stop on the payment option according to the standard. Remember that in the legal sense, no one has the right to force you to install it forcibly. This step is illegal.