Residents of St. Petersburg are unhappy with the new rules for paying for electricity introduced by Petroelectrosbyt. St. Petersburg residents are charged amounts that seem to city residents to have been taken out of thin air. Energy workers say that you just need to get used to the new system and punctually pay for electricity once a month.
New payment procedure in St. Petersburg. Complaints
The newspaper “Evening Petersburg” writes that after the new rules for paying for electricity came into force, citizens do not tire of complaining. The newspaper cites several letters from city residents.
“The invoice of CJSC Petroelectro-sbyt for August was paid, according to the meter readings, the consumed 25 kW was paid. The new invoice form received is more than 2 times the actual energy consumed; it shows 52 kW. There is 1 person registered in the apartment. It is not possible to find out information from the Petroelectrosbyt help desk at tel. 303-96-96 (the line is overloaded).”
“We received a new invoice form for electricity payment issued by Petroelectrosbyt CJSC for August 2012 in the amount of 826 rubles (calculated according to consumption standards established by the St. Petersburg Tariff Committee). Previously, electricity was paid according to individual meter readings. Over the past month, no one lived in the apartment, although 2 people were registered. I can’t get through to the contact number 303-96-96 (the line is overloaded).”
“I don’t agree with the new procedure for paying electricity bills. Receipts for consumed electricity are sent by mail after the 20th of each month. CJSC Petroelectro-sbyt requires payment of the invoice by the end of the current month. Considering that such a short period of time has been established for payment, large queues accumulate at the payment acceptance centers of Petroelectrosbyt CJSC, which creates certain inconvenience for citizens. Is it possible to do something and change the terms for paying bills (previously the terms were 40 days)?
New procedure for paying for electricity. Why did it happen?
Why is this happening? From the explanations of Petroelectrosbyt it follows that the recalculation, in accordance with the rules, will be carried out automatically after the consumer enters information about the meter reading in special fields located on the form of the new account. However, letters from indignant citizens keep coming and coming.
Since July, approximately 200 thousand citizens, randomly selected by Petroelectrosbyt, have received new electricity bills. As Petroelectrosbyt development director Evgeniy Novoselok said, while the new payment system is undergoing the testing stage, it is therefore quite difficult to transfer all 1.5 million subscribers to new accounts overnight: this will happen gradually, over several months.
New procedure for paying for electricity. The system is just being tested
The new system was introduced, as reported by Petroelectrosbyt, in accordance with Russian Government Decree No. 354 on the provision of utility services, adopted last year.
One of the paragraphs of this resolution states that “payment for utility services is paid on the basis of payment documents presented to consumers by the contractor no later than the 1st day of the month following the expired billing period.” Therefore, Petroelectrosbyt began the transition to paying for electricity using bills that citizens will receive by mail.
At the same time, the organization already had some experience of such settlements with the population. Some residents of the Vasileostrovsky and Primorsky districts have been receiving electricity bills by mail for a long time. Several tens of thousands of apartments are connected to the information and measurement system for commercial electricity metering (AIISKUE), which allows energy workers to remotely monitor the consumption of kilowatt-hours in homes. Citizens receive monthly receipts, which already indicate the used kilowatts, multiplied by the corresponding tariffs, so there is no need to take meter readings; they now serve only to monitor the correct filling out of receipts by employees of the sales organization.
At the moment, Petroelectrosbyt has begun preparations for the transfer of the entire city to a similar payment system, although in some areas the AIMSKUE system will not be implemented soon.
New electricity payment system - normal bills will start arriving in three months
Evgeniy Novoselok believes that there is nothing complicated in the payment system developed by Petroelectrosbyt. The first bill received by the subscriber by mail is calculated based on the standard electricity consumption. On its back there is a special column in which the consumer enters the readings of his meter. The second bill comes taking into account the meter readings recorded by the subscriber in a special column of the first bill. And so on.
At the same time, as Petroelectrosbyt explains, the amount issued in the first invoice, calculated according to the standard, will be adjusted based on actual consumption when issuing the second payment. In the event that the subscriber has consumed an amount of electricity that exceeds the standard, and recorded this in the form of meter readings on the back of the bill, then the payment amount will naturally increase.
If the amount of electricity consumed is less than the standard, then, accordingly, the payment amount will decrease. Starting from the third bill, subscribers will pay for the electricity actually consumed.
New payment system for electricity: you will have to pay every month
But on one condition: you must make the payment exactly on time. Anyone who fails to pay the bill on time, that is, does not notify the company about their meter readings in a timely manner, will again receive a payment according to the standard next month. And everything will start all over again.
The new system was introduced largely because many consumers did not consider it necessary to pay monthly, but paid, say, once every three months, that is, with a large delay. Now, in order not to overpay, you need to become disciplined.
A payment for utilities and a payment for electricity are a familiar set. But familiar does not mean legal. Guarantee supplier of electricity "Petersburg Sales Company", which serves 92 percent of subscribers in St. Petersburg, and its agent " Petroelectrosbyt", designed to send out receipts and collect fees from household consumers, approached the interpretation of the letter of the law creatively. Such “creativity” is paid for from the pockets of ordinary citizens.
PROTECTION AGAINST FRAUDERS
St. Petersburg residents pay for electricity according to a special scheme: they received a separate receipt, entered the meter readings (if there is one), came to the Petroelectrosbyt cash desk, and received a check.
With communal apartments, of which there are 83,350 in St. Petersburg, the story is more dramatic: they do not receive receipts for electricity at all. The calculation takes place “in words”: the neighbors agree among themselves, then everyone goes to the cash register, tells the cashier how many kilowatts he wants to pay for. And then, on the spot, he receives a ticket.
And everything would be fine, but as soon as a malicious defaulter appears in the communal apartment, the entire apartment is sued. And often neighbors, honest and dishonest, are awarded joint and several liability: in essence, they are forced to pay for the debtor neighbor, and then sue him.
The main reason why residents of communal apartments are not issued separate receipts is the lack of data on how many people live in each room.
“We have no right to receive this information if the owner himself has not provided it,” explains Deputy General Director of Petroelectrosbyt Vladimir Reznichenko. – These data are provided only at the request of government agencies, and we are a commercial organization. This protects consumers from scammers.
ACCOUNT FOR FIFTY MIGRANTS
The lack of data on residents causes a lot of trouble for Petroelectrosbyt. Firstly, these are the courts: there is no other way to get money from a debtor utility. Secondly, additional “moves” with those communal apartments that decided to switch to separate accounting and receive separate receipts: residents must write applications and provide certificates. But even in this case, “electricians” are unable to track changes in the number of registered people until the “utility workers” themselves tell them.
Room meters do not solve the problem. To be sealed, they must be on every room. But the light that has been “cranked up” in the kitchen or bathroom will still be shared by everyone.
“And it’s not possible to install meters everywhere,” notes Vladimir Reznichenko. – We have a lot of dilapidated housing. To install a meter that complies with regulations, it is often necessary to change all the wiring. As a result, in other communal apartments everything will have to be rewired and repairs made. And the amount spent becomes comparable to the amount that the communal apartment could have been resettled.
Many residents of communal apartments avoid “open” payments: “everyone is silent en masse.” After all, no one needs a bill for fifty migrants.
"COMPANY'S SECRET"
It would seem that gas workers and plumbers somehow issue bills according to the number of residents. Most suppliers get along on one sheet of paper - a general receipt. Why not include light in it?
“It’s more convenient for us to work pointwise,” explains Reznichenko. – We know: grandma lives here, and here is an insolent defaulter. That’s why our payment collection rate is high – 99.7 percent.
Other suppliers of “utility goods” cannot communicate directly with the consumer, because payments are made through the State Unitary Enterprise All-Russian Central Communal Service “Housing Economy”. But the enterprise receives data about residents directly from the HOA and management companies with which it has contracts.
You can’t just take information from the VTsKP. And no one has any desire to cooperate. According to specialists from the St. Petersburg Sales Company, the enterprise “operates inefficiently and opaquely.” For example, in the case of partial payment on a single receipt, the splitting of the amount allegedly occurs in an incomprehensible way; no calculations are provided. And “The VTsKP throws up its hands and says: “The secret of the company.”
NO DIFFERENCE, NO NEED
According to the “electricians,” the company does not have a mechanism for dealing with debtors; they do not know how to sue. And hence the low collection of payments. Moreover, the gasket company requires funds for maintenance. But there is also a psychological moment.
“It’s much easier to pay five hundred rubles for light than to shell out four thousand at once on a general receipt,” explained Vladimir Reznichenko. – And if a person does not agree with some point, payment for all services is delayed. And everyone suffers.
In short, “electricians” are not yet going to be included in the general payroll. On the contrary, they see that other suppliers are striving for direct contact with the consumer.
Petroelectrosbyt found a convenient way out of the hopeless situation: to collect the money jointly. After all, “there is no difference: there is one energy supply facility.”
“For those who have not switched to separate accounting, we can only advise one thing: keep all receipts for at least three years,” explains Reznichenko. – And “throw” for common areas. Only in this case there will be no questions, and you will be excluded from the list of respondents.
With separate receipts it is more or less clear. Where are the common ones?
“There is no need to send general receipts to communal services,” says Reznichenko. – Receipts are generated at the time of payment. If you want delivery by postman, write a request. But then it will be more convenient to immediately switch to separate accounting.
THE WORD "OPAQUE"
The “opaque and ineffective” settlement center dryly responds to all attacks that “it works according to the law.” Experts reported that their collection rate over the past year was not bad at all - 97.59 percent. That in case of incomplete payments, the money, as expected, is divided among resource workers proportionally. That information about calculations is transmitted to both suppliers and management companies online. And what... only management companies have the right to print receipts.
“According to the law, without the decision of the owners, the responsibility for issuing bills and collecting fees for housing and communal services lies with the management organization, partnership or cooperative,” the company explains. – It is their direct responsibility to work with debtors.
THERE ARE PAYMENTS - NO DATA
Let's look at the law. A separate Government Resolution No. 354 is devoted to the provision of public services to residents of high-rise buildings and detached houses.
Paragraphs 8 and 9 state that the “provider of public services” can be a management organization, a partnership or cooperative, or a resource supplying organization.
Paragraph 31 notes that the contractor is obliged to take meter readings from consumers, check these meters and send payments. And the next paragraph states that the contractor has the right, if necessary, to establish the number of citizens living (including temporarily) in an apartment or room, if the premises are not equipped with metering devices. Meanwhile, fifty thousand subscribers, according to Petroelectrosbyt, have their metering broken: the meter is either broken, does not work correctly, or is missing.
There appears to be an inconsistency: there are payments for electricity, but there is no data on residents of honor.
“The fact is that only a cooperative or management company can issue a receipt,” explains Vladimir Roginkin, a lawyer in the housing and communal services sector with ten years of practice. – And a resource officer, with rare exceptions, cannot be a performer at the same time.
This is confirmed by Resolution No. 416, which introduces standards for the work of “managers”. They, judging by the document, are obliged to pay for utilities, charge fees, draw up bills and send them to apartments, and also sue debtors.
According to Article 161 of the Housing Code, owners can choose one of three management options: management organization, cooperative or partnership, direct management. The last option is only suitable for houses with no more than thirty apartments.
“In practice, direct management is the only case when a resource officer can communicate with the owners directly,” notes Roginkin.
NO SOLIDARITY
According to paragraph 63 of Resolution No. 354, the consumer is obliged to pay for utilities. But pay either the performer or the agent hired by the performer. Article 155 of the Housing Code speaks about the same thing: residents of a house managed by a management organization pay for utilities only with it.
True, according to paragraph 64, residents have the right to pay the resource officer directly. But such a decision is made only by a meeting of owners.
“And here we are talking only about the transfer of money,” Vladimir Roginkin draws attention. – But the receipts are still prepared and printed by the management organization.
By the way, about receipts: according to paragraph 67 of the resolution, you need to pay on the basis of payment documents. And paragraph 69 lists that the receipt must indicate, among other things, information about the owners (and this is, first of all, first name, last name and patronymic), the volume of services consumed, the amount of payment and the amount of debt, if any. Article 155 of the Housing Code also talks about payment documents. And Order No. 924 of the Ministry of Construction introduces the form of payment: full name, judging by it, it should be.
Meanwhile, Petroelectrosbyt does not issue receipts at all to utility companies that have not switched to separate accounting. And the receipts that are issued “with words” are impersonal.
Yes, joint liability for residents of communal apartments is also out of the question.
“There is no joint liability for communal services,” says the lawyer. – There are standards and formula No. 7, which is used to divide the total consumption between rooms.
True, in order to use the formula, you need to know how many people live in each room.
VOID AGREEMENT
Only an agreement, according to paragraph 6 of the resolution, is the basis for the provision of public services. It is concluded either in writing or automatically upon connection to the network.
Petroelectrosbyt relies on Article 540 of the Civil Code, which states: an energy supply contract is considered concluded with a citizen from the moment he is actually connected to the network. But for some reason the company does not mention in court that, according to Article 548 of the same code, this rule applies only if the law does not provide otherwise.
And “other” has just been established. Article 12 of the Housing Code says that “managers” do not have the right to refuse to enter into an agreement with resource officers. And paragraph 7 of the resolution stipulates that a written agreement cannot contradict document No. 354.
“Relying on the Civil Code in this case is generally wrong: the Civil Code is a general structure, but there is also a special Housing Code and related regulations,” explains Roginkin. – No other laws apply to Resolution No. 354. And if there is a contradiction, the regulations apply.
But the Petersburg Sales Company automatically enters into an agreement with subscribers, according to which it gives itself the right to “charge for consumed electrical energy and issue payment documents for payment.”
“Such an agreement is void: it contradicts current legislation,” notes Vladimir Roginkin. “It was drawn up not only in complete contradiction to the norms of the Housing Code, but also to the law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights.”
To remove the last doubts, Petroelectrosbyt and its “mother” also, according to the lawyer, do not have the right to turn off the lights and seal the meters: this is the right and obligation of the management company.
“In an amicable way, the St. Petersburg Sales Company should give up the agent and be included in the general receipt,” the lawyer summed up. – That is, shift the powers to the management companies: transfer to them all the meters, all the documentation and all the calculations for the last three to four months.
KARL AT CLARA'S...
And everything would be fine, but one resource person ruins the lives of others.
“There is individual consumption, and there are general household needs,” explained the VTsKP specialists. – When a supplier comes to an apartment building directly to the owner, he destroys the ability of management companies to see the entire consumption of the building. It removes information about individual consumption - and management companies cannot calculate fees correctly.
A wayward “electrician” indirectly creates debtors. After all, the “managers” are deprived of the most effective tool to combat them.
“The management organization, by law, can, after warning, impose restrictions on the provision of public services,” they say at the enterprise. – Cold water and heating cannot be turned off for debt. But you can limit the sewerage and turn off the hot water. But the simplest and most effective thing is to limit the supply of electricity. If the managers had such an opportunity, the debtor would pay not only for electricity, but also for all other services.
“Arbitrariness” also harms consumers themselves.
“When there is a general receipt, the citizen receives a guarantee that the calculations were made correctly,” the company explains. – And when paying directly, the supplier remains without control.
“THIS IS OUR EVERYTHING”
In one of the St. Petersburg state unitary enterprises in the housing and communal services sector, Komsomolskaya Pravda was told that individual payments for electricity seriously hit the pockets of the average consumer.
“If everyone creates their own Petroelectrosbyt and switches to separate receipts, then they will include fifteen percent in the tariff for the maintenance of this “layer”: This is permitted by law,” says Komsomolskaya Pravda’s interlocutor. “But with a single receipt, the tariff includes on average only 2.7 percent.
Considering that a one-room apartment with a gas stove and one tenant pays about six hundred rubles a month for electricity, she “overpays” for an agent by almost nine hundred rubles a year. There are two million household subscribers in St. Petersburg. And this is already almost 1.8 billion rubles a year. And this is if you imagine that all the apartments in the city are one-room and have gas stoves.
In many regions, individual receipts proved to be ineffective: they collected no more than 96 percent of payments.
“But in our country, management companies issue electricity bills in only three cities,” the interlocutor notes. – That is, three cities charge for electricity according to the law.
Two Komsomolskaya Pravda interlocutors immediately responded that the freedom of the Petersburg Sales Company arose for a reason.
“The court supports them,” notes one specialist. - Why? The setting is given: resource specialists are our everything, and if they sue someone, then they are right.
“This will continue,” says the second specialist. – As long as there is a rich company in the city with a good political lobby at the country level.
INSTEAD OF AN AFTERWORD
Komsomolskaya Pravda asked Petroelectrosbyt a specific question: on the basis of what specific points of the law does the company make payments and collect fees? The company reported that it is based on paragraph 17 of resolution No. 354. Below we present it in its entirety:
“The resource supply organization, for which, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on water supply, sanitation, electricity supply, heat supply, gas supply, the conclusion of an agreement with the consumer is mandatory, begins to provide utility services of the corresponding type:
a) owners and users of premises in an apartment building in which direct management has been chosen as the management method - from the date specified in the decision of the general meeting of premises owners to choose such a management method, until the date the management organization or partnership or cooperative begins providing utilities, specified in paragraph 14 or 15 of these Rules;
b) owners and users of premises in an apartment building in which a management method has not been chosen or a management method has been chosen, but the events specified in paragraphs 14 and 15 of these Rules have not occurred - from the day the ownership of the premises arises, from the day the residential premises are provided to housing cooperative, from the date of conclusion of the lease agreement, from the date of conclusion of the lease agreement, unless another period is established by the legislation of the Russian Federation on water supply, sanitation, electricity supply, heat supply, gas supply, or from the date of termination of the previously chosen method of managing an apartment building until the day the manager begins providing utilities an organization or partnership or cooperative specified in paragraph 14 or 15 of these Rules;
c) owners and users of residential buildings (households) - from the date of the first actual connection of a residential building (household) in the prescribed manner to the centralized network of engineering support directly or through networks of engineering support connecting several residential buildings (households) located on nearby land plots, unless another period is established by the legislation of the Russian Federation on water supply, sewerage, electricity supply, heat supply, gas supply, with the exception of the period of time during which between the owner of a residential building (household) and the organization specified in subparagraph “b” of paragraph 10 of these Rules, an agreement on the provision of utility services has been concluded and executed in writing and such an agreement has not been terminated.”
We also received the following letter(spelling and punctuation preserved):
“The correspondent was told at JSC Petroelectrosbyt that the company, as an agent of JSC PSK, acts strictly within the law. In paragraph 17 of the “Rules for the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings”, approved by Government Decree No. 354 dated 06.05.2011 (“Rules 354”), it is written in black and white that the resource supplying organization not only has the right, but even is obliged to provide utility services directly to residents of apartment buildings in a number of cases. One of these cases is when there is a management organization, but it does not provide services for the supply of utility resources to residents. This is precisely the case that is observed in the vast majority of St. Petersburg buildings: management companies do not provide residents with the service of supplying electricity to their apartments.
We emphasize that in this case, the resource supplying organization is obliged to become the executor of the utility service, enter into contracts and make payments directly with residents. And on this basis, Petroelectrosbyt enters into energy supply agreements with citizens. To save consumers from unnecessary bureaucratic red tape, the company, using Art. 540 of the Civil Code and paragraph 7 of “Rules 354”, concludes an agreement orally. But at the request of the consumer, he can also sign a written contract,” the company commented.
This provision of the law guarantees citizens an uninterrupted supply of communal resources and, first of all, is aimed at protecting the interests of consumers. Otherwise, citizens would be forced to wait for the lights (water, heat, etc.) to be turned on until a management organization is selected or until the selected organization begins to provide all services. The Housing Code of the Russian Federation does not provide for what a resource supplying organization should do when the management company does not provide a service for the supply of one of the resources. “Rule No. 354” complements the LC and does not contradict it.
It is worth noting that in the Leningrad region, payments for electricity consumed for general house needs are collected from residents by management companies, and in a number of cases, they do not transfer the funds collected from residents to the electricity supplier - PSK JSC. In many districts of the Leningrad region there is a fraudulent scheme: a temporary management company is created that collects money from residents, then this company goes bankrupt and disappears in an unknown direction along with the money collected from consumers. The direct payment procedure in force in St. Petersburg allows St. Petersburg residents to be confident that their money paid for electricity went to its intended destination - directly to the service provider.
Moreover, direct payments are most often the decision of the residents themselves, represented by the HOA or the management organization.
It should also be noted that not only electricity is paid for on a separate receipt: in most houses gas is also paid separately, in some houses heating and hot water. This is an absolutely legal and effective way of working.”
Attention, question: What do you think?
Komsomolskaya Pravda continues to monitor developments.
A payment for utilities and a payment for electricity are a familiar set. But familiar does not mean legal. Guarantee supplier of electricity "Petersburg Sales Company", which serves 92 percent of subscribers in St. Petersburg, and its agent " Petroelectrosbyt", designed to send out receipts and collect fees from household consumers, approached the interpretation of the letter of the law creatively. Such “creativity” is paid for from the pockets of ordinary citizens.
PROTECTION AGAINST FRAUDERS
St. Petersburg residents pay for electricity according to a special scheme: they received a separate receipt, entered the meter readings (if there is one), came to the Petroelectrosbyt cash desk, and received a check.
With communal apartments, of which there are 83,350 in St. Petersburg, the story is more dramatic: they do not receive receipts for electricity at all. The calculation takes place “in words”: the neighbors agree among themselves, then everyone goes to the cash register, tells the cashier how many kilowatts he wants to pay for. And then, on the spot, he receives a ticket.
And everything would be fine, but as soon as a malicious defaulter appears in the communal apartment, the entire apartment is sued. And often neighbors, honest and dishonest, are awarded joint and several liability: in essence, they are forced to pay for the debtor neighbor, and then sue him.
The main reason why residents of communal apartments are not issued separate receipts is the lack of data on how many people live in each room.
“We have no right to receive this information if the owner himself has not provided it,” explains Deputy General Director of Petroelectrosbyt Vladimir Reznichenko. – These data are provided only at the request of government agencies, and we are a commercial organization. This protects consumers from scammers.
ACCOUNT FOR FIFTY MIGRANTS
The lack of data on residents causes a lot of trouble for Petroelectrosbyt. Firstly, these are the courts: there is no other way to get money from a debtor utility. Secondly, additional “moves” with those communal apartments that decided to switch to separate accounting and receive separate receipts: residents must write applications and provide certificates. But even in this case, “electricians” are unable to track changes in the number of registered people until the “utility workers” themselves tell them.
Room meters do not solve the problem. To be sealed, they must be on every room. But the light that has been “cranked up” in the kitchen or bathroom will still be shared by everyone.
“And it’s not possible to install meters everywhere,” notes Vladimir Reznichenko. – We have a lot of dilapidated housing. To install a meter that complies with regulations, it is often necessary to change all the wiring. As a result, in other communal apartments everything will have to be rewired and repairs made. And the amount spent becomes comparable to the amount that the communal apartment could have been resettled.
Many residents of communal apartments avoid “open” payments: “everyone is silent en masse.” After all, no one needs a bill for fifty migrants.
"COMPANY'S SECRET"
It would seem that gas workers and plumbers somehow issue bills according to the number of residents. Most suppliers get along on one sheet of paper - a general receipt. Why not include light in it?
“It’s more convenient for us to work pointwise,” explains Reznichenko. – We know: grandma lives here, and here is an insolent defaulter. That’s why our payment collection rate is high – 99.7 percent.
Other suppliers of “utility goods” cannot communicate directly with the consumer, because payments are made through the State Unitary Enterprise All-Russian Central Communal Service “Housing Economy”. But the enterprise receives data about residents directly from the HOA and management companies with which it has contracts.
You can’t just take information from the VTsKP. And no one has any desire to cooperate. According to specialists from the St. Petersburg Sales Company, the enterprise “operates inefficiently and opaquely.” For example, in the case of partial payment on a single receipt, the splitting of the amount allegedly occurs in an incomprehensible way; no calculations are provided. And “The VTsKP throws up its hands and says: “The secret of the company.”
NO DIFFERENCE, NO NEED
According to the “electricians,” the company does not have a mechanism for dealing with debtors; they do not know how to sue. And hence the low collection of payments. Moreover, the gasket company requires funds for maintenance. But there is also a psychological moment.
“It’s much easier to pay five hundred rubles for light than to shell out four thousand at once on a general receipt,” explained Vladimir Reznichenko. – And if a person does not agree with some point, payment for all services is delayed. And everyone suffers.
In short, “electricians” are not yet going to be included in the general payroll. On the contrary, they see that other suppliers are striving for direct contact with the consumer.
Petroelectrosbyt found a convenient way out of the hopeless situation: to collect the money jointly. After all, “there is no difference: there is one energy supply facility.”
“For those who have not switched to separate accounting, we can only advise one thing: keep all receipts for at least three years,” explains Reznichenko. – And “throw” for common areas. Only in this case there will be no questions, and you will be excluded from the list of respondents.
With separate receipts it is more or less clear. Where are the common ones?
“There is no need to send general receipts to communal services,” says Reznichenko. – Receipts are generated at the time of payment. If you want delivery by postman, write a request. But then it will be more convenient to immediately switch to separate accounting.
THE WORD "OPAQUE"
The “opaque and ineffective” settlement center dryly responds to all attacks that “it works according to the law.” Experts reported that their collection rate over the past year was not bad at all - 97.59 percent. That in case of incomplete payments, the money, as expected, is divided among resource workers proportionally. That information about calculations is transmitted to both suppliers and management companies online. And what... only management companies have the right to print receipts.
“According to the law, without the decision of the owners, the responsibility for issuing bills and collecting fees for housing and communal services lies with the management organization, partnership or cooperative,” the company explains. – It is their direct responsibility to work with debtors.
THERE ARE PAYMENTS - NO DATA
Let's look at the law. A separate Government Resolution No. 354 is devoted to the provision of public services to residents of high-rise buildings and detached houses.
Paragraphs 8 and 9 state that the “provider of public services” can be a management organization, a partnership or cooperative, or a resource supplying organization.
Paragraph 31 notes that the contractor is obliged to take meter readings from consumers, check these meters and send payments. And the next paragraph states that the contractor has the right, if necessary, to establish the number of citizens living (including temporarily) in an apartment or room, if the premises are not equipped with metering devices. Meanwhile, fifty thousand subscribers, according to Petroelectrosbyt, have their metering broken: the meter is either broken, does not work correctly, or is missing.
There appears to be an inconsistency: there are payments for electricity, but there is no data on residents of honor.
“The fact is that only a cooperative or management company can issue a receipt,” explains Vladimir Roginkin, a lawyer in the housing and communal services sector with ten years of practice. – And a resource officer, with rare exceptions, cannot be a performer at the same time.
This is confirmed by Resolution No. 416, which introduces standards for the work of “managers”. They, judging by the document, are obliged to pay for utilities, charge fees, draw up bills and send them to apartments, and also sue debtors.
According to Article 161 of the Housing Code, owners can choose one of three management options: management organization, cooperative or partnership, direct management. The last option is only suitable for houses with no more than thirty apartments.
“In practice, direct management is the only case when a resource officer can communicate with the owners directly,” notes Roginkin.
NO SOLIDARITY
According to paragraph 63 of Resolution No. 354, the consumer is obliged to pay for utilities. But pay either the performer or the agent hired by the performer. Article 155 of the Housing Code speaks about the same thing: residents of a house managed by a management organization pay for utilities only with it.
True, according to paragraph 64, residents have the right to pay the resource officer directly. But such a decision is made only by a meeting of owners.
“And here we are talking only about the transfer of money,” Vladimir Roginkin draws attention. – But the receipts are still prepared and printed by the management organization.
By the way, about receipts: according to paragraph 67 of the resolution, you need to pay on the basis of payment documents. And paragraph 69 lists that the receipt must indicate, among other things, information about the owners (and this is, first of all, first name, last name and patronymic), the volume of services consumed, the amount of payment and the amount of debt, if any. Article 155 of the Housing Code also talks about payment documents. And Order No. 924 of the Ministry of Construction introduces the form of payment: full name, judging by it, it should be.
Meanwhile, Petroelectrosbyt does not issue receipts at all to utility companies that have not switched to separate accounting. And the receipts that are issued “with words” are impersonal.
Yes, joint liability for residents of communal apartments is also out of the question.
“There is no joint liability for communal services,” says the lawyer. – There are standards and formula No. 7, which is used to divide the total consumption between rooms.
True, in order to use the formula, you need to know how many people live in each room.
VOID AGREEMENT
Only an agreement, according to paragraph 6 of the resolution, is the basis for the provision of public services. It is concluded either in writing or automatically upon connection to the network.
Petroelectrosbyt relies on Article 540 of the Civil Code, which states: an energy supply contract is considered concluded with a citizen from the moment he is actually connected to the network. But for some reason the company does not mention in court that, according to Article 548 of the same code, this rule applies only if the law does not provide otherwise.
And “other” has just been established. Article 12 of the Housing Code says that “managers” do not have the right to refuse to enter into an agreement with resource officers. And paragraph 7 of the resolution stipulates that a written agreement cannot contradict document No. 354.
“Relying on the Civil Code in this case is generally wrong: the Civil Code is a general structure, but there is also a special Housing Code and related regulations,” explains Roginkin. – No other laws apply to Resolution No. 354. And if there is a contradiction, the regulations apply.
But the Petersburg Sales Company automatically enters into an agreement with subscribers, according to which it gives itself the right to “charge for consumed electrical energy and issue payment documents for payment.”
“Such an agreement is void: it contradicts current legislation,” notes Vladimir Roginkin. “It was drawn up not only in complete contradiction to the norms of the Housing Code, but also to the law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights.”
To remove the last doubts, Petroelectrosbyt and its “mother” also, according to the lawyer, do not have the right to turn off the lights and seal the meters: this is the right and obligation of the management company.
“In an amicable way, the St. Petersburg Sales Company should give up the agent and be included in the general receipt,” the lawyer summed up. – That is, shift the powers to the management companies: transfer to them all the meters, all the documentation and all the calculations for the last three to four months.
KARL AT CLARA'S...
And everything would be fine, but one resource person ruins the lives of others.
“There is individual consumption, and there are general household needs,” explained the VTsKP specialists. – When a supplier comes to an apartment building directly to the owner, he destroys the ability of management companies to see the entire consumption of the building. It removes information about individual consumption - and management companies cannot calculate fees correctly.
A wayward “electrician” indirectly creates debtors. After all, the “managers” are deprived of the most effective tool to combat them.
“The management organization, by law, can, after warning, impose restrictions on the provision of public services,” they say at the enterprise. – Cold water and heating cannot be turned off for debt. But you can limit the sewerage and turn off the hot water. But the simplest and most effective thing is to limit the supply of electricity. If the managers had such an opportunity, the debtor would pay not only for electricity, but also for all other services.
“Arbitrariness” also harms consumers themselves.
“When there is a general receipt, the citizen receives a guarantee that the calculations were made correctly,” the company explains. – And when paying directly, the supplier remains without control.
“THIS IS OUR EVERYTHING”
In one of the St. Petersburg state unitary enterprises in the housing and communal services sector, Komsomolskaya Pravda was told that individual payments for electricity seriously hit the pockets of the average consumer.
“If everyone creates their own Petroelectrosbyt and switches to separate receipts, then they will include fifteen percent in the tariff for the maintenance of this “layer”: This is permitted by law,” says Komsomolskaya Pravda’s interlocutor. “But with a single receipt, the tariff includes on average only 2.7 percent.
Considering that a one-room apartment with a gas stove and one tenant pays about six hundred rubles a month for electricity, she “overpays” for an agent by almost nine hundred rubles a year. There are two million household subscribers in St. Petersburg. And this is already almost 1.8 billion rubles a year. And this is if you imagine that all the apartments in the city are one-room and have gas stoves.
In many regions, individual receipts proved to be ineffective: they collected no more than 96 percent of payments.
“But in our country, management companies issue electricity bills in only three cities,” the interlocutor notes. – That is, three cities charge for electricity according to the law.
Two Komsomolskaya Pravda interlocutors immediately responded that the freedom of the Petersburg Sales Company arose for a reason.
“The court supports them,” notes one specialist. - Why? The setting is given: resource specialists are our everything, and if they sue someone, then they are right.
“This will continue,” says the second specialist. – As long as there is a rich company in the city with a good political lobby at the country level.
INSTEAD OF AN AFTERWORD
Komsomolskaya Pravda asked Petroelectrosbyt a specific question: on the basis of what specific points of the law does the company make payments and collect fees? The company reported that it is based on paragraph 17 of resolution No. 354. Below we present it in its entirety:
“The resource supply organization, for which, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on water supply, sanitation, electricity supply, heat supply, gas supply, the conclusion of an agreement with the consumer is mandatory, begins to provide utility services of the corresponding type:
a) owners and users of premises in an apartment building in which direct management has been chosen as the management method - from the date specified in the decision of the general meeting of premises owners to choose such a management method, until the date the management organization or partnership or cooperative begins providing utilities, specified in paragraph 14 or 15 of these Rules;
b) owners and users of premises in an apartment building in which a management method has not been chosen or a management method has been chosen, but the events specified in paragraphs 14 and 15 of these Rules have not occurred - from the day the ownership of the premises arises, from the day the residential premises are provided to housing cooperative, from the date of conclusion of the lease agreement, from the date of conclusion of the lease agreement, unless another period is established by the legislation of the Russian Federation on water supply, sanitation, electricity supply, heat supply, gas supply, or from the date of termination of the previously chosen method of managing an apartment building until the day the manager begins providing utilities an organization or partnership or cooperative specified in paragraph 14 or 15 of these Rules;
c) owners and users of residential buildings (households) - from the date of the first actual connection of a residential building (household) in the prescribed manner to the centralized network of engineering support directly or through networks of engineering support connecting several residential buildings (households) located on nearby land plots, unless another period is established by the legislation of the Russian Federation on water supply, sewerage, electricity supply, heat supply, gas supply, with the exception of the period of time during which between the owner of a residential building (household) and the organization specified in subparagraph “b” of paragraph 10 of these Rules, an agreement on the provision of utility services has been concluded and executed in writing and such an agreement has not been terminated.”
We also received the following letter(spelling and punctuation preserved):
“The correspondent was told at JSC Petroelectrosbyt that the company, as an agent of JSC PSK, acts strictly within the law. In paragraph 17 of the “Rules for the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings”, approved by Government Decree No. 354 dated 06.05.2011 (“Rules 354”), it is written in black and white that the resource supplying organization not only has the right, but even is obliged to provide utility services directly to residents of apartment buildings in a number of cases. One of these cases is when there is a management organization, but it does not provide services for the supply of utility resources to residents. This is precisely the case that is observed in the vast majority of St. Petersburg buildings: management companies do not provide residents with the service of supplying electricity to their apartments.
We emphasize that in this case, the resource supplying organization is obliged to become the executor of the utility service, enter into contracts and make payments directly with residents. And on this basis, Petroelectrosbyt enters into energy supply agreements with citizens. To save consumers from unnecessary bureaucratic red tape, the company, using Art. 540 of the Civil Code and paragraph 7 of “Rules 354”, concludes an agreement orally. But at the request of the consumer, he can also sign a written contract,” the company commented.
This provision of the law guarantees citizens an uninterrupted supply of communal resources and, first of all, is aimed at protecting the interests of consumers. Otherwise, citizens would be forced to wait for the lights (water, heat, etc.) to be turned on until a management organization is selected or until the selected organization begins to provide all services. The Housing Code of the Russian Federation does not provide for what a resource supplying organization should do when the management company does not provide a service for the supply of one of the resources. “Rule No. 354” complements the LC and does not contradict it.
It is worth noting that in the Leningrad region, payments for electricity consumed for general house needs are collected from residents by management companies, and in a number of cases, they do not transfer the funds collected from residents to the electricity supplier - PSK JSC. In many districts of the Leningrad region there is a fraudulent scheme: a temporary management company is created that collects money from residents, then this company goes bankrupt and disappears in an unknown direction along with the money collected from consumers. The direct payment procedure in force in St. Petersburg allows St. Petersburg residents to be confident that their money paid for electricity went to its intended destination - directly to the service provider.
Moreover, direct payments are most often the decision of the residents themselves, represented by the HOA or the management organization.
It should also be noted that not only electricity is paid for on a separate receipt: in most houses gas is also paid separately, in some houses heating and hot water. This is an absolutely legal and effective way of working.”
Attention, question: What do you think?
Komsomolskaya Pravda continues to monitor developments.
Long-term absence from your place of residence (business trip, vacation, etc.) is not grounds for non-payment of electricity. In such cases, you can use remote payment methods. In addition, in accordance with the law, subscribers have the opportunity to make advance payments for electricity on account of future months, this will avoid the formation of debt.
It is also recommended that consumers report monthly meter readings (even if there is no electricity consumption). This will eliminate the need to charge for electricity using calculation methods and will not lead to debt.
Details of the calculation can be obtained from any JSC Petroelectrosbyt. Information can also be clarified by calling the Contact Center 679-22-22 (Mon-Sat from 8:00 to 20:30).
An application to search for a payment, if it does not appear in your “Personal Account”, should be submitted no earlier than 5 working days after the payment is made. Information about payments made through third-party banks becomes available in your “Personal Account” within a few days.
Reference information on payments can be obtained from one of Petroelectrosbyt JSC, or by calling the Contact Center 679-22-22 (Mon-Sat from 8:00 to 20:30).
If the payment is made through Petroelectrosbyt JSC(in a payment terminal or on the company’s website), then to search for a payment you must provide a copy of the payment document (check) issued as a result of the payment, or indicate the following information:
Subscriber number and address of the energy supply facility;
The exact amount of payment;
Number or address of the payment acceptance center (payment terminal) of Petroelectrosbyt JSC where the payment was made;
Number of the cash register or cashier-controller window (payment terminal number) where the payment was made.
Petroelectrosbyt JSC may also attempt to search for a payment if copies of payment documents or the above information about other payments made simultaneously with the sought payment are provided.
If the payment was made through a banTo, then you need to contact the bank and request documents confirming the transfer of funds (for example, an account statement, a copy of the payment order, etc.).
If the funds were transferred by the bank to Petroelectrosbyt JSC, then in order to trace the payment, you should request from the bank a copy of the relevant payment order (not a check confirming payment), or a letter from the bank indicating the data on the transfer of funds to Petroelectrosbyt JSC "(number and date of the payment order, name of the payee's bank, name and number of the beneficiary's current account, transferred amount).
To search for a payment for the services of third-party organizations made to JSC Petroelectrosbyt or through organizations, you must provide a copy of the payment document (check) issued as a result of the payment, or indicate the following information:
Name of the organization receiving the payment;
The exact amount of payment;
The exact date of payment;
Number or address of the payment acceptance center of Petroelectrosbyt JSC where the payment was made;
The number of the cash register machine or the number of the cashier-controller window where the payment was made.
Petroelectrosbyt JSC may also attempt to search for a payment if copies of payment documents or the above information about other payments made simultaneously with the sought payment are provided.
The new system of payment for electricity, introduced in St. Petersburg in early autumn 2012, still causes confusion among city residents. Despite the passage of 3.5 months, many St. Petersburg residents still do not fully understand how to properly pay off their electricity bills. In this regard, after talking with journalists, the management of the Petroelectrosbyt company answered frequently asked questions from citizens.
The main mistake of payers, according to a representative of the organization, is the incorrect choice of the date for providing information about apartment meter readings. According to the logic (and the information specified in the receipt), the values must be transferred on the last day of the month, that is, the 30th or 31st. As it turned out, this approach is fundamentally wrong, and there is a specific period for informing Petroelectrosbyt about the readings: from the 23rd to the 25th. Thus, it is better to pay receipts before the 25th, otherwise confusion is likely.
One of the visible advantages of the new system is the ability to pay off electricity bills not only in the organization’s offices, but also in terminals, third-party banks, or via the Internet. But those who have taken advantage of the “blessing” of electronic payments immediately have an additional concern: none of the payment systems transmits the ill-fated meter values. Therefore, you will have to submit your testimony separately. There are two ways and both are not very convenient: either go to the Petroelectrosbyt branch (losing all the charm and general expediency of electronic payment), or fill out a manually verified inconvenient “footcloth form” on the organization’s website and hope that it will not be lost among thousands complaints and reviews sent through the same interface.
As the interlocutor added, if the payer “forgot” about the numbers on the meter, then next month he will receive a receipt with the average value of his energy consumption. But if you “forget” about the readings for 3 months in a row, then the punishment will be the transfer of the subscriber to accounts with electricity consumption standards established by law, which is unlikely to please the subscriber.
As for the accrual of penalties, in order to avoid them, the money must be deposited before the 29th day of the reporting month, otherwise the St. Petersburg energy monopolist cannot promise the absence of penalties.