Housing and Utilities / Management companies and HOAs
By July 1, 2012, citizens are required to install individual meters for the volume of utilities.
In this regard, many citizens already have a question - how should they verify the accuracy of the indications of individual metering devices that they provide to a service organization, and how not to let an outsider into their apartment who may have criminal intentions under the pretext of checking?
The answers to these questions are given by Tatyana Zharikova, senior assistant to the prosecutor of the Industrial District of Barnaul. She explains that the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 05.06.2011 N354 approved the "Rules for the provision of public services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings" (currently Rules not entered into legal force).
In accordance with them, the verification of the accuracy of the information submitted by consumers about the readings of individual metering devices should be carried out by the service organization at least 1 time per year, and if the metering devices to be checked are located in the consumer’s premises, then no more than 1 time in 3 months. If access to the apartment is required to conduct such verification of the readings of individual metering devices, then it is carried out by the representative of the service organization in the following order:
1. The organization sends to the consumer or gives a written notice against signature with a proposal to inform about the convenient date and time for the consumer to allow the representative of the organization to check. This notice should contain an explanation of the consequences of consumer inaction or his refusal to allow the contractor to verify the readings of individual metering devices;
2. The consumer is obliged, within 7 days from the date of receipt of such a notice, to inform the service organization of a convenient date and time for the next 10 days, when he can provide access to the representative of the service organization in his apartment to check the readings of individual metering devices. If the consumer cannot ensure the admission of the representative of the organization to the premises occupied by him due to a temporary absence, he is obliged to inform the contractor of other possible dates and times of admission for checking the readings of individual metering devices.
3. The representative of the service organization at the date and time agreed with the consumer is obliged to conduct an audit, draw up an act of verification of the readings of individual metering devices and transmit 1 copy of the act to the consumer.
The inspection act is signed by the inspector and the auditee, and in the case of the auditor’s refusal to sign the act, by the inspector and 2 disinterested persons. ”In case you refuse to agree on the date and time of verification of the readings of individual metering devices, or at the agreed time do not allow the inspector to the apartment, the inspector draws up an act of refusal of admission to the metering device.
In this case, the payment for utility services from the moment the act is drawn up will be determined on the basis of the calculated average monthly consumption of the communal resource by the consumer, and after 3 settlement periods - on the basis of the utility service consumption standards.
At the same time, in the future you are not deprived of the opportunity to notify the service organization of the readiness to admit its representative to the premises for inspection, after which verification of the readings of individual metering devices; must be carried out within 10 days.
In any case, you have the right to require the representative of the contractor to present documents proving his identity and the presence of his authority to access the consumer’s residential or non-residential premises to check the status of metering devices, ”summarizes Tatyana Zharikova.
Date of publication: 04/17/2017 17:46
According to the head of Rosstandart Alexei Abramov, the owners can be exempted from "verification duties" in the housing and communal services. Managing organizations will begin to do verification of IPU. Officials plan to implement the idea by the end of 2017.
As explained in the department, the current rules require owners to independently verify the individual metering devices. Ideally, this model should look like this: the owner knows exactly when his meters for hot and cold water, gas and electricity will expire. Closer to the X-day, he himself finds a calibration company that suits him at a price and other standards. The company sends the master, he does the verification or changes the counter, the work is paid. Everyone is happy.
However, according to Rosstandart, in practice, everything is completely different. Firstly, the lion's share of residents "float" in the dates and have no idea when to check. Secondly, the market for these services is not controlled, and citizens often order services from scammers. Tricky businessmen ring up apartments, appear to be a single settlement center or district government and assure that the house is undergoing a collective planned replacement of meters. And in case of refusal they threaten that huge bills for water will come to the intractable owner.
Moreover, officials even issued an official appeal in which they warned residents of apartment buildings about a new fraud scheme: they replaced the calls with threatening letters on letterheads very similar to official receipts for housing services.
If the initiative of Rosstandart is implemented, the owners will be completely excluded from the verification procedure of individual metering devices. Responsible for this will be the management of the house.
Housing and utilities business experts considered the idea of \u200b\u200bofficials controversial. On the one hand, ordinary people will no longer have a headache about the need to look for some organization that has the right to verify and then wait for the master for hours (and what if a craftsman and a robber come to the apartment at all?). On the other hand, there is a risk that the new model will result in new costs for the owners, because house managers will not perform additional work for free.
It doesn’t make sense for the managing organization to intentionally look for a cheaper verification office, which means that there is a risk for citizens to increase housekeeping fees, ”said Natalya Pobedinskaya, deputy executive director of the Water Supply and Sanitation Association,“ In addition, with such a scheme, the possibility of abuse by managers companies.
But scammers, experts say, with the new model are likely to become less. Firstly, each management organization knows for sure the day when verification expires in a certain apartment. This means that house controllers will only send masters to the right addresses and lying about “collective” verification will be a thing of the past. Secondly, the risk for citizens to run into an office that does not have accreditation, and therefore does not have the right to check meters, will also be reduced to zero.
The only problematic group of houses is the departmental housing stock, dormitories and high-rise buildings, where there is no managing organization. Only one option will be available with them, according to 354 RFP: at the end of the verification period, three months, residents will receive bills according to average previous readings, and then the expense will be considered according to the standard.