Target fee for the installation of one. Household metering devices: who is obliged to install, is it possible not to install, and what happens to their readings? Clarifications of public utilities

Not so long ago, the Presidium of the RF Armed Forces adopted another review judicial practice, which included, among other things, answers to important questions on disputes in the housing sector (). In particular, the Court clarified from whom to recover the costs for installing a common house metering device and whether it is possible not to pay for sewerage in the absence of such a device. Let's consider the situations in more detail.

Installation of a common house metering device: at whose expense?

Until July 1, 2012, the owners of premises in apartment buildings were to equip such houses with collective metering devices used for water, heat and electrical energy(part 5 of article 13 federal law dated November 23, 2009 No. 261-FZ ""; hereinafter referred to as the Law on Energy Saving). Of course, even after this date there were houses in which no one installed collective meters for water, heat and electricity. In the event of such a violation, the obligation to install common house appliances was transferred to resource supply organizations - and they had to do this before July 1, 2013 (). This is exactly what the municipal state enterprise "Voronezhteploset" did, which supplied water to one of the "offenders" houses.

After that, the enterprise turned on the basis of the law to the residents and owners non-residential premises at home with a requirement to reimburse the costs of installing a collective meter (). However, the owners of the premises in the apartment building refused to pay money to the resource-supplying organization.

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Then MCP "Voronezhteploset" filed a lawsuit with a claim for payment of expenses incurred, but not against the owners themselves, but against LLC "UK Gorodok" - the organization that managed this house. The defendant objected to the satisfaction of the claim, referring to the expenses are due directly to the owners of the premises. managing organization insisted: she should not pay at her own expense the costs of installing metering devices at a time, since the owners of the premises were granted by law an installment plan for these costs for a period of five years ().

By the decision of the court of first instance, left unchanged by the decisions of the court of appeal and arbitration court county, claim were satisfied (decision of the Arbitration Court of the Voronezh Region dated May 16, 2014 No. A14-13747 / 2013,). Judicial board The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation also supported the conclusion of the lower courts that the managing organization is the proper defendant in this claim, since the owners of the premises enter into an agreement with it precisely to resolve all issues of managing an apartment building ().

The judges stressed that the managing organization, by virtue of its status, has comprehensive information about the share of each owner in the right of common ownership of common property. In addition, it is she who is empowered to receive payments from owners for the services provided and settlements with resource supply organizations (,). According to the lawyer, the head of the project "People's Advocate" for the South-Eastern Administrative District of Moscow Ilya Reiser, the management company should have initially, on its own initiative and in a timely manner, raised the issue of the need to install a common house metering device with the residents. "The tenants are not required to know all the subtleties in the management of the house - this is what management companies exist for," the lawyer believes.

However, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized that in this case the lower courts had no grounds to recover from the managing organization the full amount of the costs of installing common house meters. He justified this with two arguments. Firstly, the managing organization in relation to the reimbursement of expenses for the installation of a common house metering device is a representative of the owners of the premises and is deprived of the opportunity to receive cash for these purposes otherwise than from the said persons. In this regard, in the opinion of the Court, it should not be responsible in a larger volume than the total amount of the monetary obligations of the owners of the premises for reimbursement of expenses on the day of the judgment. Secondly, the five-year period from the date of commissioning of the common house metering device, during which the owners have the right to installments, has not expired at the time of the consideration of the case. There was also no evidence that the owners of the premises decided to pay the costs in a lump sum or with a shorter installment period. For this reason, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation canceled the earlier decisions on this dispute judicial acts and sent the case for a new trial in order to establish the amount to be recovered from the managing organization ().

Interestingly, before the clarifications of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, many courts were also of the opinion that it was the management company that was the proper defendant in the lawsuit of the resource supplying organization to recover the costs of installing a common house meter (,).

At the same time, the managing organization has the right to subsequent reimbursement of expenses for the installation of a common house meter from the owners of the premises, with the exception of cases when such expenses were included in the payment for the maintenance and repair of the dwelling ().

OPINION

Aleksey Gordeychik, Attorney at Law, Managing Director of the Bar "Gordeychik and Partners"

"The consideration of management companies undertaken by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as independent subjects of legal relations raises questions to a greater extent than answers them. Let's say, before the expiration of the five-year installment plan for repaying the debt for the installed metering device entity will cease to exist, for example, in connection with the termination of the contract for the management of an apartment building or the recognition management company bankrupt. What is the fate of the rest of the debt? I will add that interest is charged on the amount of debt for the installation of a common house metering device, the maximum amount of which is equal to the refinancing rate of the Bank of Russia (). Is it possible to collect them from the management company? I think not, because the obligation does not create obligations for persons who are not participating in it as parties (), and the participants in this obligation are just the resource supply company and the owners of the premises in the house. However, I admit that some courts may decide this issue differently.

Water disposal for general house needs in the absence of a meter: to pay or not to pay?

Until June 1, 2013, the sewerage service was provided in relation to residential buildings, residential and non-residential premises in an apartment building, as well as premises that are part of the common property in an apartment building. After the specified date, this service is provided for residential buildings, as well as residential and non-residential premises in an apartment building (). Thus, sewerage has ceased to include the removal of domestic wastewater from the premises that are part of the common property in an apartment building.

Even earlier, on April 27, 2013, the norm on determining the standard for the consumption of utility services for sewerage for general house needs, which was contained in.

Some lawyers interpreted the amendments as follows: the sewerage service for general house needs is no longer provided and there is no need to pay for it. Others insisted that it was still necessary to pay a fee - after all, the maintenance of common property, including the in-house engineering drainage system, is provided by the owners of the premises at their own expense (,). At the same time, the volume of consumption of the service in the absence of a collective meter, in their opinion, should be calculated in a new way - for example, based on data on water consumption. Some resource-supplying companies also adhered to the latter position.

So, the Lipetsk LLC "Vodokanal", which supplied apartment buildings cold water and provided wastewater disposal services domestic water, continued to include payment for sewerage services for general house needs after June 1, 2013. Because common house meters Wastewater were absent in the house, the company calculated the fee based on the volume of water disposal equal to the volume of water consumption. At the same time, the latter was determined according to consumption standards cold water ().

The courts of first and second instances recognized that the company had no right to collect the indicated amounts from the tenants (decision of the Arbitration Court Lipetsk region dated May 19, 2014 No. A36-733 / 2014,). The argument was that from June 1, 2013, the utility service for sewerage for general house needs is not being provided, which means that no payment should be charged for it.

But the district arbitration court partially supported the actions of Vodokanal LLC. The court agreed that in the absence of a common house wastewater meter, residents must pay the cost of common house sewage needs, taking the volume of water supplied to this subscriber from all sources as the volume of wastewater discharged by the subscriber centralized water supply(clause 11, article 20 of the Federal Law of December 7, 2011 No. 416-FZ ""; hereinafter - the law on water supply). At the same time, the court of cassation came to the conclusion that the volume of water supplied to apartment buildings should be determined according to the readings of common house meters ().

The Judicial Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation canceled the decision of the arbitration court of the district and left the decision of the court of first instance and the decision of the court of appeal unchanged. She pointed out that the law on water supply is not applicable to this dispute. The judges emphasized: legal relations for the provision of public services in residential buildings priority are regulated by housing legislation, which includes and.

In addition, the Court decided that the amount of payment for the communal sewerage service provided for general house needs, in the absence of a collective meter, is simply impossible to calculate. The fact is that in the absence of a collective meter, the amount of payment for a utility service provided for general house needs, with the exception of a utility service for heating, is determined according to the utility consumption standard ( ; ; ). Just this standard was excluded in April 2013 from.

On April 17, 2015, the Judicial Collegium for Economic Disputes of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation came to the final conclusion, according to which, in the absence of common house wastewater meters in apartment buildings, the resource supply organization cannot charge a fee for the sewerage service in relation to general house needs ().

It should be noted that the RF Armed Forces have already taken both a similar position ( , ), and the exact opposite (). Interestingly, the letter of the Ministry of Construction of Russia on how to calculate the volume of wastewater in the absence of a collective meter in the house () is not given in accordance with the position of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

***

Thus, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on both contentious issues sided with the residents. However, it must be borne in mind that before amendments are made to the legislation that would make it more unambiguous, the owners of the premises must be prepared for conflicts involving management and resource supply organizations, including in court.

According to clause 38(1) of Regulation No. 491, if the owners of premises in an apartment building before January 1, 2013 did not ensure that such a house was equipped with a collective (common house) meter for the used communal resource and, at the same time, in accordance with Part 12 of Article 13 of the Federal Law " On energy saving and energy efficiency improvement and on amendments to certain legislative acts Russian Federation» a collective (common house) metering device was installed, the owners of the premises are obliged to pay the costs of installing such a metering device on the basis of invoices and in the amount specified in paragraph two of this clause, except for cases when such costs were included in the maintenance and repair fee residential premises and (or) as part of mandatory payments and (or) contributions established for members of a homeowners' association or a housing cooperative or other specialized consumer cooperative, related to the payment of expenses for the maintenance, current and major repairs of common property.

Paragraph two of clause 38(1) of Regulation No. 491 provides that invoices for the payment of expenses for the installation of a collective (common house) metering device, indicating the total amount of expenses for the installation of such a metering device and the share of the costs for installing such a metering device, the burden of which is borne by the owner of the premises, are issued to the owners of the premises by an organization that, in accordance with Part 12 of Article 13 of the Federal Law "On Energy Saving and on Increasing Energy Efficiency and on Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation", installed a collective (common house) meter. The share of expenses for the installation of a collective (common house) metering device, the burden of which is borne by the owner of the premises, is determined based on his share in the right of common ownership of common property.
In case of disagreement with the amount of expenses indicated in the invoice for the installation of a collective (general house) metering device and (or) the share of expenses attributed to it, the owner of the premises has the right to contact the organization that installed such a metering device and issued the invoice with disagreements, and if disagreements are not settled, he has the right to appeal issued invoice in the manner prescribed by the legislation of the Russian Federation.
Citizens - owners of premises in an apartment building pay the invoices issued in accordance with Part 12 of Article 13 of the Federal Law "On Energy Saving and on Increasing Energy Efficiency and on Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation".
It follows from the rule of law above that the resource supplying organization that has equipped multi-apartment residential buildings with metering devices for energy resources used, collects directly from the owners of the premises of the multi-apartment residential building its incurred costs for the installation of a collective (common house) metering device by issuing appropriate invoices.
The management company, in cases specified by law, may be an obligated person to pay the costs of installing a collective (general house) meter to the resource supply organization. But only if such expenses were taken into account as part of the payment for the maintenance and repair of the dwelling and (or) as part of the mandatory payments and (or) contributions associated with the payment of expenses for the maintenance, current and major repairs of common property (paragraph 38 (1) of Regulation No. 491), as well as if the management company has concluded an agreement with a resource supply organization for the installation of energy metering devices with an obligation to pay.

Carefully deal with the Criminal Code and the HOA

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Heating is one of the most expensive items on your utility bill. The calculation is based on standards and tariffs - indicators established in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation by the authorities executive power subject in the field state regulation prices. Also, the payment structure may include the volume of heat energy consumption in the event that a common house heat meter is installed in an apartment building. Let's find out in which cases installation is required, how to do it correctly and how residents will benefit.

Appointment of a common house meter for heating

After the Housing Code determined what is the property of tenants, their area of ​​responsibility has expanded significantly. Responsibilities for the maintenance and service of common house property fell on the shoulders of apartment owners.

Since it is impossible to refuse to pay for general house needs, it makes sense to reduce the cost of heating residential and non-residential premises and pay only for the heat actually received.

To measure the amount of energy consumed, a common house heat meter (ODPU) is installed. By paying for heating in an apartment building by the meter, you will be able to control energy consumption and keep track of expenses. This is not the only purpose of the ODPU installation.

Another goal pursued is to encourage residents to save heat outside own apartments and take good care of common property.

If the doors and windows in the entrance are tightly closed, the heat will remain, and the residents will receive the service in full.

It should be mentioned right away that the ODPU itself does not save anything. This is just a metering device that provides more accurate data for determining the final amount of payment for heating than the standards.

Installing a common house heat meter is legal

For the first time, general house meters were discussed back in 2009, when Federal Law No. 261-FZ “On Energy Saving and Increasing Energy Efficiency” was issued. In the original version, the law prescribed the mandatory installation of an ODPU in high-rise buildings until January 1, 2012. Later this period was extended several times.

The last change in the deadline until January 1, 2019 and until January 1, 2021 (for Crimea and Sevastopol) was enshrined in Federal Law N196-FZ of 07/26/2017.

Thus, the law on common building meters for heating unequivocally confirms the need for their installation in apartment buildings. An exception is allowed only for dilapidated, emergency and demolished houses, as well as objects on which the installation of a meter is technically impossible due to a mismatch of parameters engineering network device installation conditions.

Procedure for installing a collective heat meter

Reconciliation of readings of a common house heat meter

To calculate monthly payments, accurate and timely readings are needed, which are taken from the common house meter. In accordance with Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 354 dated 05/06/2011, the utility service provider is responsible for accounting for heat energy, which may be:

• Management Company;
• resource organization.

Results

The Energy Saving Law obliges residents apartment buildings at their own expense, install common heat metering devices, with the exception of houses that do not meet the technical capabilities.

Both the UK and the RSO take part in the installation procedure of the ODPU, the former organizes, and the latter is responsible for the installation of the device. In case of failure to fulfill their obligations, companies will be fined, and residents will receive a receipt for payment for heating with a multiplier. Time will tell how expedient the compulsory installation of collective meters is, but the effect of the use of ODPU is undeniable: heating costs are reduced by up to 30%.

Lawyer. Member of the Chamber of Advocates of St. Petersburg. Experience more than 10 years. Graduated from St. Petersburg State University. I specialize in civil, family, housing, land law.

Housing and communal services / Management companies and HOA

Residents of apartment buildings, which have not yet installed communal water, heat and electricity meters, are forced to pay for consumed communal resources at an inflated price. It is calculated on the basis of consumption standards increased by 1.5 times.

But, in the end, the question of installing a common house metering device goes into practice, the public utilities install it at their own expense. After that, a new line appears in utility bills, and after that, every month, residents are forced to compensate for the costs of installing a common house meter for several years.

This situation raises numerous questions among residents: who was supposed to install the meter, is it possible not to install it, and how to check whether readings are taken from it correctly? We are publishing clarifications from the Ministry of Housing and Public Utilities of the Krasnoyarsk Territory on this issue.

Who should install common house meters?

Since July 1, 2012, the obligation to equip multi-apartment buildings and residential buildings with common house and individual metering devices has passed from the owners to resource-supplying organizations.

Resource-supplying organizations are required to install general house and individual metering devices in the premises at all facilities to which they supply communal resources. Owners of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings are required to provide them with access to install metering devices and pay all costs associated with the installation of metering devices.

Also, resource-supplying organizations are obliged, at the request of the owners, to provide an installment payment of expenses for 5 years, while setting an installment interest no higher than the refinancing rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (requirement of part 12 of article 13 of the Federal law dated November 23, 2009 No. 261).

Thus, all apartment buildings must be equipped with common house and individual metering devices for utility resources. Of course, the owners have the right, without waiting for resource-supplying organizations, to independently decide on the installation of metering devices.

In which houses can you not install common house meters?

- Where the installation of a metering device of the appropriate type according to the design characteristics of an apartment building (residential building or premises) is impossible without reconstruction, overhaul existing house engineering systems (intra-apartment equipment) and (or) without creating new in-house engineering systems (intra-apartment equipment).

— Where, when installing a metering device of the appropriate type, it is impossible to ensure compliance with mandatory metrological and technical requirements to the metering device of the appropriate type, including the place and procedure for its installation, presented in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on ensuring the uniformity of measurements and on technical regulation;

- If in the place where the metering device of the corresponding type is to be installed, it is impossible to ensure compliance with the requirements imposed in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on ensuring the uniformity of measurements and on technical regulation mandatory requirements to the operating conditions of the metering device of the corresponding type, including due to technical condition and (or) the mode of operation of in-house engineering systems (intra-apartment equipment), temperature regime, humidity, electromagnetic interference, flooding of premises, and (or) it is impossible to provide access for taking readings of a metering device of the appropriate type, its maintenance, replacement.

However, these delays are temporary, and after a major overhaul or reconstruction of the engineering systems of the house, the owners will still be required to install metering devices.

How are meter readings taken?

The contractor (that is, the organization that manages the house) is obliged to take readings of common house metering devices for communal resources from the 23rd to the 25th day of the current month and enter the readings into the readings register.

This magazine is provided for familiarization to the consumer at his request within 1 working day from the date of the request. Information about the readings of the general house and individual meters must be stored for at least three years.

Today, no one doubts the advisability of installing meters, but if everything is clear with apartments, then the question is, who should install the metering devices still occurs. Energy supplies supplied to apartment buildings go, including for general house needs, so they should also be reflected in the receipts of residents. The absence of meters leads to the fact that public utilities receive less funds, besides this good soil for abuse. Now you will find out whether the installation of an ODPU is mandatory, and who should do it, in principle.

Law on common house meters

Utility bills are one of the main expenses of Russians, so they do not want to pay money for services that were not provided. To make payments for energy carriers more transparent, it is necessary to install both individual and common house meters. The difference in their testimony, in fact, is common house needs, which also have to be paid.

This is also understood by the legislators who signed Federal Law No. 344 back in 2013, which implies an increase in the coefficients for objects that do not yet have an ODPU. Starting from 2017, for such houses the coefficient has increased by 1.6 times, meanwhile, according to the provisions of Law No. 261, energy resources (including water) must be paid according to meter readings.

Is it necessary to install ODPU

Unfortunately, there are still people who do not understand the importance of installing common house meters for electricity, gas, water and heat, but meanwhile the expediency of installing them is obvious. First of all, this is necessary in order to take into account actual consumption, and not pay, for example, for losses in main pipelines, and this happens quite often. It should be noted that the cost of energy carriers is growing and tariffs are reviewed once every six months. Unfortunately, residents cannot influence this, but they can save money by controlling consumption and reducing consumption. Installing ODPU will help:

• pay not for "air", but for the actually provided service;
• to draw a line between service providers and residents in matters of payment for losses on backbone networks;
• make correct calculations and allocate the amounts that go to pay for general house needs;
• control the consumption of electricity, gas, heat and water, reducing them, if necessary.

It is not possible to determine the actual size of the consumed energy carriers in any other way, except for the installation of the ODPU. It is for this reason that much attention is paid to their installation today, and public utilities are increasingly hearing that who is required to install common house meters. People are worried, in particular, whether this will not be an unbearable burden on the shoulders of the tenants themselves, who already pay for public utilities a lot of money.

Who should install the ODPU

Today, most apartments are equipped with autonomous heating and hot water systems, meanwhile, no one has canceled the payment for one-time payments. In any case, most apartment buildings are connected to the central systems of water, gas, electricity and heat supply, namely the presence centralized systems- the main condition for the installation of common house appliances that take into account energy consumption. There is no need for their installation in dilapidated housing construction and emergency facilities.

Residents of a house that needs to install an ODPU should understand that, according to existing legislation, and this is clearly stated in the Federal Law "On Energy Saving", they fall directly on the owners of residential premises. That is, each owner of the residential premises is provided with an invoice, which indicates what specific amount he must pay for the installation of the meter.

When calculating the costs for the installation of an ODPU, “equalization” is not allowed, and payment is made taking into account the characteristics of the premises - its area and share in common property, respectively. It is not difficult to calculate the share of the owner, for which it is necessary to divide the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe apartment by total area at home and multiply by the area of ​​common areas.

Installation of ODPU: procedure and payment procedure

Residents of apartment buildings resolve all issues on general meetings, and since common house meters are part of the joint property, it is also necessary to make a decision on their installation together. Their installation can only be started after a joint decision has been made, and it is the responsibility of the management company to report the place of the meeting, and in case of failure to notify the owners, the Criminal Code faces a fine.

Despite the fact that the installation of meters requires financial costs, many residents, tired of the lawlessness of public utilities and inflated bills, understand the need for this step. It remains an open question how payments are made: one-time or in installments. In some cases, even funds allocated by the owners of utility systems for organizing energy saving measures can be used for this. According to law No. 354, public utilities are obliged to use the difference between the standard and the amount, taking into account the multiplying factor, to improve energy saving issues. It is these amounts that we are talking about in this case.

Most often, tenants are faced with a one-time payment of one hundred percent, it is not uncommon for payment to be made in installments. In this case, the amount is divided into equal parts and included in the payment for utilities for 5 years. Despite the fact that it is convenient, this form of mutual settlements involves the payment of interest for installments (according to the size of the refinancing rates of the Central Bank).

Is it possible to refuse the installation of ODPU

With seeming democracy in matters of installing common house meters, the law also provides for a situation where the owner refuses to do this. In this case, according to the provisions of Article 13 of the Federal Law "On Energy Saving", energy suppliers can do this forcibly. In this case, they should be given access to the premises, while the cost of the devices will still be calculated from the end user. In the event of a forced collection, the cost of installation will increase, and it turns out that the owners of residential premises have no other choice but to install common house meters.