It is especially important to know the procedure for installing water meters and the rules for their registration for those who are just planning to tackle this issue. If you are interested in reducing your water consumption costs as much as possible, you should hurry up and install metering devices in your apartment as quickly as possible.
Water meters: why install them
It is well known that water consumption is paid by the consumer in two calculation methods:
- according to standards (which are determined by regional authorities, and the final amount does not depend on the number of cubic meters actually used);
- according to indicators of IPU (individual accounting devices). Since 2015, every owner is obliged to provide their housing with them. Those consumers who do not do this will not bear any responsibility, but will be forced to pay for water consumption at increased rates.
Thus, since January 2016, the coefficients for calculating payment for tariffs have been increased three times, and since January 2017 - five times; in 2019, it is planned to use an additional coefficient of 1.5.
The law provides for an exception to these rules: if it is technically impossible to install meters in a particular residential premises, employees of the management company are required to draw up an appropriate act, which gives the right to pay for water supply at the usual, not inflated tariff.
Tangible savings
A simple mathematical calculation shows that the average family of four saves at least 180 thousand rubles over five years of living in the same premises, provided they pay only for the water actually consumed. Thus, the standard includes the consumption of hot water by one person at 150-170 liters per day, cold water - up to 240 liters, which corresponds to the maximum possible consumption.
Saving money through water meters is especially obvious when:
- more than four or five citizens live in the apartment. For example, a family of five has to pay, if there is no water meter, five times the tariff established in the city of residence. In most cases, such families have more than two or three children, who, of course, actually do not consume the amount of cubic meters that is included in the standard. Since, when determining fixed payment amounts, local authorities do not take into account the age and need of each member for utilities, the actual overpayment can reach several thousand rubles per month;
- no one lives in the apartment. In this case, the actual water consumption is zero, while the owner of a residential premises without an individual investment program is required to make monthly payments;
- residents of the house go on vacation, business trips, etc. During your absence, the presence of a meter makes it possible to save significantly, since during this period water is not actually consumed - and accordingly, it is not paid for, unlike housing without appliances.
However, in some situations, residents with installed meters still bear some additional costs:
- when the installed metering mechanism fails, until it is repaired, the owner is obliged to pay for water supply according to the general rule. In this case, inconvenience can be caused by calculating the payment period, cash costs for repairs, proving the cause of the breakdown is not the fault of the residents;
- If the meter is of poor quality, a rather large error in recording the indicators is possible. The consequence may be an overpayment, which is difficult to prove;
- general house water use indicator - if it exceeds the total value for apartments, the overconsumption will have to be paid jointly by all owners. Thus, overspending can arise both due to unscrupulous neighbors who connect all kinds of magnets to meters, and due to those who do not install an IPU.
In addition, some apartment buildings have non-residential premises in which individual appliances are not installed, which also affects the overall consumption rate. In the summer, it is possible to water the adjacent area using a common source of water supply, and the corresponding costs will also fall on all apartment owners equally.
Price of water
How much does a cubic meter of hot water cost? In the capital, the equipment with metering devices has reached 85% - this is the highest figure in the country. In Moscow cost:
- a cubic meter of hot water now corresponds to 130.27 rubles (Mosenergo OJSC)
- and 163.24 rub. (JSC "MOEK")
- on average, this cost is 10-11 rubles more than last year.
Let's figure out where the tariffs and coefficients we use to calculate the payment amount come from.
So, in each region there are resource supply organizations with which consumers enter into contracts for the supply of water. Payment for water without a meter is made according to the regional tariff for each registered person. In addition, the final price of water consists of the standard itself and the premium for the provision of supply services, the so-called index.
Different regions have their own maximum indexation rate, which cannot be exceeded. Thus, one of the lowest values is set for North Ossetia (3%), the highest is for cities of federal significance (Moscow - 7.5%, St. Petersburg - 6.5%). The average indexation percentage in central Russia varies from 4 to 5.5%.
The cost of a cubic meter of water includes:
- expenses for consumed electricity (heating, delivery);
- water treatment costs (maintenance and control of treatment equipment, work to comply with standard SanPiN standards);
- payment for the work of personnel employed by the supplier organization, including social contributions and taxes;
- maintenance costs, rental of necessary structures;
- expenses for repairs and maintenance of equipment;
- water tax;
- costs for compliance with environmental costs: removal and destruction of waste, examination of samples, etc.
How to install a counter
Many of us, unlike those who deliberately do not use IPU, simply do not have time to finally install and register a water meter in our home. Some owners don't know where to start or where to turn. At the same time, the procedure for equipping a living space with individual metering devices does not take much time and effort if you know its essence.
So, you don't want to overpay any more and are ready to get started with the installation. To do this you need:
- submit an application for installation of a meter to the organization servicing your apartment building (do not forget that a water meter must be installed on each riser in the apartment);
- conclude a tripartite agreement (the text is prepared by the management company), which will indicate which resource supplying organization intends to service your home;
- sign the commissioning certificate (after you are convinced of the working condition of the device and its sealing). This document must indicate the start date of use, the installer’s signature, the date of verification, and indications. The same data is used to register with the supplier company (usually Vodokanal) - from this moment your personal account will be valid;
- conclude an agreement with the management company on the payment procedure.
Before signing an agreement, you should pay attention to whether the water supply company has a license (it must be presented upon your request).
Can I install the counter myself? There is no such prohibition in legislation, but if you do it incorrectly (for example, the distance from the common pipe to the device is less than 20 cm), then dismantling will be your additional expense. In addition, if you install it yourself, you will have to call a specialist to seal it and register it with Vodokanal.
Recently, a bill was put forward to shift the installation and verification of meters to the expense of utility companies. However, the initiative stalled in the State Duma and the project was rejected.
Cost of services
How much does it cost to install a water meter? The final price consists of the cost of the device itself and the service for its commissioning. In the regions, prices for the mechanism itself depend on the competitiveness of the companies that produce and sell them.
- Thus, an ordinary inexpensive meter can cost the consumer from 680 to 2500 rubles. The longer the period until the next verification, the higher the cost will be. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, the price can reach up to 8,000 rubles.
- For installation work in the regions, they can bill from 200 to 500 rubles for a separate IPU, in the capital - up to 3,000 rubles. Equipping apartments with metering devices can be done both by the companies that sell them (if they have a license) and by the plumbers of the management or water supply organizations.
For citizens who do not have the financial ability to pay the cost of the procedure and the meter itself, an installment plan of up to five years is available. To do this, you need to submit a corresponding application to the service company, which will draw up a special agreement, which will indicate a schedule for making partial payments.
Privileges
In Russia, it is possible to install water meters free of charge for the following categories of citizens:
- low-income;
- the poor;
- participants of the Great Patriotic War (as well as home front workers, rehabilitated people, widows of deceased WWII participants, etc.);
- disabled people of the first and second groups;
- families raising a disabled child.
In the regions, a free installation procedure is provided for old-age pensioners. In Moscow, those who receive a subsidy to pay for housing and communal services can apply for free installation.
In some cities, the media announces a period during which a water meter can be installed free of charge.
Maintenance
If the device breaks down, the consumer must report this to the management company or directly to the supplier organization. The specialist is obliged to go to the consumer’s place of residence and fix the breakdown. If the warranty period (usually from one to three years) for the mechanism has not expired, it will be replaced or repaired free of charge. At the same time, the cost of calling a specialist (from 200 to 1000 rubles) is usually paid by the homeowner.
After the technical malfunction has been eliminated, the device must be sealed again (free of charge), as indicated in the passport.
How often is verification done?
In order to ensure that the indicators correspond to real consumption, as well as to continue operation after:
- 4 years - IPU hot water
- 6 years - IPU cold water
timely verification is required. Until recently, the owner had to provide verification in two ways:
- call a specialist who will dismantle the device and ensure it is tested in a special laboratory;
- replace with a new one - again, by involving an employee who has the right to do this.
Currently, more and more companies have specialized equipment at their disposal that allows them to check water meters without removing them. The cost of such a service is from 750 rubles to 2000 rubles.
Payment for housing and communal services is a significant expense item for many citizens of our country. To implement clear control over payment for the consumed amount of resources, one of which is water, residents of the Russian Federation began to install meters everywhere (if possible).
The timing of verification of hot and cold water meters is clearly regulated by current legislation in the field of application of control and measuring instruments. The owner of the residential premises is responsible for the implementation of such procedures, so citizens must have information about the mechanism and timing of their implementation.
Basis for verification of measuring instruments in the housing and communal services sector
The legislative framework, which is the basis regulating the need to perform verification of cold water and hot water meters, as well as determining their operating time, is formed by the following regulations:
- Government Decree No. 354 “On the provision of public services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings”, which defines the basis for ensuring the uniformity of measurement systems in the Russian Federation;
- Federal Law No. 261 “On Energy Saving and Increasing Energy Efficiency”;
- Federal Law No. 102 “On ensuring the uniformity of measurements.”
Such a procedure is mandatory due to the fact that changes may occur during the operation of the devices and the impact of third-party factors on it. Such changes may cause the water passing through them to be incorrectly measured, resulting in incorrect or inaccurate readings. External factors or reasons that may cause inaccuracy are the following:
- use of low quality water. In this case, low quality is understood as the presence in its composition of microscopic solid particles, which, when passing through individual elements of the water meter, wear it out and the meter begins to work incorrectly;
- the use of communication systems (possibly even on a citywide scale) of inadequate quality. As an example, there may be a clogged filter in the cold or hot water supply system;
- counter wear. Such a process may well occur before the end of the water meter’s service life, regardless of the water quality. This may be an error when assembling the device, damage during storage or transportation, or a malfunction of any individual elements;
- Damage to the meter as a result of any actions performed on it by users. This may be an attempt to influence the magnetic field, or another action aimed at slowing down its operation and indicating a lower flow rate than it actually was;
- drying out of the mechanism due to turning off the water for a long time.
Verification deadlines
The legislation establishes the following for verification work:
- for cold water meters – 6 years;
- for hot, the verification interval is somewhat shorter, since exposure to high temperatures wears out parts faster - it is 4 years.
Which organizations can verify water meters?
To carry out such procedures, you can contact the following organizations:
- Vodokanal, however, to carry out verification, the meter will be dismantled and you may have to wait for some time, in addition, fill out and submit certain documents, which will take some time;
- A special organization that is certified (of which there is documentary evidence) to perform verification work on water meters. The cost of such services is relatively low - for Moscow it is about 500 rubles. In addition, such verification is convenient because the company’s specialists go to the address where the meter is installed and carry out all the necessary measurements at the owner’s home (office, enterprise).
It is also worth noting one important fact that the owners of houses and apartments forget (or do not know) - the period for calibrating meters is set not from the moment of its installation and start of work, but from the date of its release and packaging at the manufacturer.
Thus, having bought a water meter that has been in storage for about three years and installed it to measure hot water consumption, verification will have to be carried out within one year. Therefore, when purchasing such measuring instruments, always pay attention to the date of their production - this will help you avoid premature costs and paperwork.
It is possible that the result of the verification will be a conclusion that the device is faulty and, naturally, the impossibility of its further use. In this case, you will need to install a new one.
Operating life of water meters and their replacement
In addition to the mandatory verification of water meters, you need to know that each type of meter has its own specific service life, after which it must be replaced. On average, the duration of their operation ranges from 8 to 15 years (as a rule, domestic devices are of less importance than imported ones).
This information must be indicated in the passport of the measuring device, and when the end of its service life approaches, the owner of the apartment or premises must take care of the replacement procedure in advance.
The procedure for replacing the meter is as follows:
- submitting an application to the management company. Replacing the meter, of course, can be done independently or with the help of a third party, but this requires time and additional applications;
- after submitting the application, discuss when the master will pay a visit to carry out the replacement - so that someone is at home;
- a specialist will carry out an external inspection of the old meter, record the integrity of its seal and the meaning of the readings. Then a new water meter is installed and sealed. After installation, the owner of the apartment has documents on the removal of the old one, as well as on the procedures performed to install the new one.
If for some reason you miss the deadline for checking water meters or the need to replace them, then payment for water consumption may be calculated taking into account the norms per person living in an apartment or house.
Video: Service life and verification of water meters.
No. 261 November 26, 2011 “On Energy Saving” provides for the installation of water meters in all residential premises. It does not matter whether the people living there own the premises or not - the procedure for installing water meters is the same for everyone (and for those who temporarily live in this area). As a result, people who did not want to pay for themselves and “that guy” were in no hurry, and the deadlines for installing measuring instruments were repeatedly pushed back. The last one is like this date expires July 1 of the current year.
Procedure for installing a water meter
From a formal point of view, the procedure for installing water meters is quite simple. At the beginning of the journey you need to submit application to the management company or housing cooperative and get from them a list of companies that undertake installation. Then you need to agree to hire a specialist from this office in order to determine whether it is possible to install water meters, check the condition of the pipeline and determine the possible scope of repair work.
Then - assemble the package required documents:
- act of commissioning water meters;
- availability of an agreement for energy-saving work;
- technical passport for each water meter.
Further - draw up a scheme together with the management company commissioning of a water metering device, buy the device itself and the consumables associated with installation from the company. Moreover, if the water metering devices were purchased by you personally and for one reason or another were not installed, or worse, not tested for technical suitability, then the company may refuse installation. Although such actions are not provided for by law, there are no legal grounds for refusing to install meters in this case.
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And finally, when all approvals are successfully completed, a Certificate of commissioning of a water meter and payment calculation procedure for housing and communal services. After which you can already pay the incoming monthly bills.
Timing, cost and installation details
As you can see, installing water meters is not such a simple matter. In real You have to pay not only for water meters. The law, however, does not allow making most of the payments proposed by management companies, but the procedure for installing meters is spelled out quite vaguely, which provokes some discrepancies. In general, you will have to pay for the following:
- metering devices (hot and cold water, that is, at least two meters);
- components and parts necessary for complete installation (and this does not take into account repair work, which, given the state of housing and communal services in the regions, will obviously come in handy);
- cutting communications, dismantling old and installing new pipes;
- installation of counters and filters.
So, let's count. Water meters cost an average of 1,800 rubles per device, that is, 3,600 rubles. Components, installation work, provided that no additional procedures are required, approximately 4,500 rubles. It turns out to be at least 8000-8200 rubles. And this despite the fact that no one is going to modernize the old pipe layout, built in Soviet times. And its preservation in its current state means for the ordinary consumer a double set of meters. Additional expenses, and in the end you will have to shell out almost 11-12 thousand rubles.
Apartment economy
Main problem The point is that water meters (the law provides for this) are purchased not only for yourself, but also for your neighbor. In the sense that both apartment and house meters are taken into account. In other words, it is paid for both individual and collective consumption. Especially in those old buildings where the apartments have not been fully purchased (privatized) or a significant part of the living space is rented out to private individuals. Naturally, without drawing up any agreement.
In addition, if previously the price for hot, cold water and sewerage depended on how many people were officially registered in a given living space, now, during the transition period, the whole entrance will have to give all the best. And the excess - for the repair of communications, overexpenditure of resources, “extra” residents,” will be paid by the owners of the meters.
Everything is very simple. Firstly, there is simply no mechanism for identifying this kind of tenants. Secondly, even if the apartments are privatized, the entrances, basements, attics, roofs, adjacent areas, that is, communications, are not privatized. Which either belong to the state or municipality, or to a new owner, “throwing off” the burden of housing and communal services responsibility.
Questions often arise as to at whose expense the installation of metering devices in residential premises. The question is not idle, so we decided to dwell in detail on its explanation. So.
Installation of metering devices – whose responsibility?
In accordance with paragraph 5 of Art. 13 of the Law “On Energy Saving and Improving Energy Efficiency...” until July 1, 2012, owners of residential buildings, with the exception of those specified in Part 6 of this article, owners of premises in apartment buildings put into operation on the day this Federal Law entered into force, are obliged to ensure equipping such houses with metering devices for used water, thermal energy, electrical energy, as well as putting the installed metering devices into operation. In this case, apartment buildings must be equipped with collective (common house) metering devices used water, thermal energy, electrical energy, as well as individual and general (for a communal apartment) metering devices for used water, electrical energy.
And in accordance with clause 81 of the Government of the Russian Federation of May 6, 2011 No. 354 “On the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings” (hereinafter referred to as the Rules), equipping residential or non-residential premises with metering devices, commissioning of metering devices, their proper technical operation, safety and timely replacement must be ensured by the owner of residential or non-residential premises.
Hence, installation of metering devices(equipment) is the responsibility of the owner of the apartment building. Equipment means: purchase and installation (installation) at the expense of the owner, regardless of where it is installed: in an apartment or on a landing.
Who is responsible for putting an individual meter into operation?
After the metering devices have been installed, the installed metering device is put into operation by the contractor, including on the basis of an application from the owner of a residential or non-residential premises submitted to the contractor.
In the direct method of managing an apartment building, the provider of the utility service is the resource supply organization, and when managing an apartment building by a management organization, the metering device is entered by the management organization.
Commissioning of the metering device– this is the documentation of a metering device as a metering device, based on the readings of which the amount of payment for utility services is calculated.
The installed meter must be put into operation no later than the month following the date of its installation. In this case, the contractor is obliged, starting from the 1st day of the month following the month the metering device was put into operation, to calculate the amount of payment for the corresponding type of utility service based on the readings of the metering device put into operation.
During the commissioning of the metering device, the following must be checked:
- correspondence of the serial number on the metering device to the number indicated in its passport;
- compliance of the metering device with the technical documentation of the device manufacturer, including the configuration and installation diagram of the metering device;
- presence of signs of the latest verification (with the exception of new metering devices);
- performance of the metering device.
The commissioning of metering devices in the cases provided for by these Rules is carried out by the contractor without charging a fee. The installed metering device, including after verification, is sealed by the contractor without charging a fee to the consumer, except for cases when the sealing of the corresponding metering devices is carried out by the contractor again due to violation of the seal or verification marks by the consumer or a third party.
Verification of an individual metering device
Metering devices of an approved type and verified in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on ensuring the uniformity of measurements are allowed for use. Information on the compliance of the metering device with the approved type, information on the date of initial verification of the metering device and the verification interval established for the metering device, as well as requirements for the operating conditions of the metering device must be indicated in the accompanying documents to the metering device.
According to paragraphs. “d” clause 34 of the Rules, the consumer is obliged to ensure that the collective (common house), individual, common (apartment), room metering devices installed at his expense are carried out within the time limits established by the technical documentation for the metering device, having previously informed the contractor about the planned date of removal of the device metering for its verification and the date of installation of the metering device based on the results of its verification, except for cases when the agreement containing provisions on the provision of public services provides for the obligation of the contractor to carry out maintenance of such metering devices, as well as to send the contractor a copy of the verification certificate or another document certifying the results of verification of the metering device, carried out in accordance with the provisions of the legislation of the Russian Federation on ensuring the uniformity of measurements.
The calibration interval is determined by the manufacturer of the individual metering device and is reflected in the operating manual or data sheet attached to the metering device upon purchase.
As established in clause 81 (12) of the Rules, when the calibration interval expires, the metering device is considered to be out of order, and in this case, if the device is not verified or replaced, charges for consumed utilities will occur using current standards.