The question of paying utility bills for Russians is very acute, since their cost is often incommensurable with earnings. Citizens are trying to save on everything, and one of such methods is the installation of the ODPU MKD (apartment building). The fact is that installing metering devices only in your apartment does not guarantee that additional amounts will not be charged on receipts for the additional needs of the whole house, but the general meter will certainly reduce them. In addition, according to a government decree on charging utility services, such devices are required to be in every MKD. Residents who do not have a common house metering device in the house must pay for the services provided at an inflated rate, which is determined in accordance with a coefficient of 1.6 to the norms. This is also a significant motivation to install ODPU.
What it is?
The abbreviation stands for "common house metering devices." These devices are counters of various resources delivered immediately to the whole house, or rather, the staircase. The device determines the total energy consumption from all residents and is simultaneously a distribution device.
Despite the fact that the installation of ODPU in a residential building has been mandatory by law for more than 5 years, still not all citizens have such devices in their homes.
Varieties
Metering devices for the consumption of shared resources, as a rule, is installed in the basements or utility rooms of the building. They are issued separately for metering electricity, hot and cold water and thermal energy. After installation and start-up, access to the devices from the side of the residents is blocked so that they could not ruin the equipment or change its readings.
To account for water consumption, separate devices for cold and hot water are installed. In addition to the standard meter, you can add a special sensor that detects the temperature of the supplied water and considers its cost according to reality. That is, if an insufficiently heated liquid flows through the hot water pipe, the meter will determine it as cold and count the residents a completely different payment.
The installation of thermal energy ODPU allows to seriously save consumed resources in the heating season.
To do this, you can use ultrasonic devices, tachometric, vortex or electromagnetic. What exactly to choose for a particular entrance, is decided solely by the residents themselves.
To account for the total energy consumption, the most simple single-rate and multi-tariff devices are offered for installation. The latter allow you to save a lot more, because at different times of the day they consider the cost of a resource at different prices. Today it is the most popular option. The essence of their work is that at night the minimum tariff applies to electricity, while in the daytime it is slightly higher, and reaches its maximum during peak hours in the morning and evening. Of course, such a device will cost a pretty penny, but it will pay off very quickly. The installation of the electric power distribution system is also carried out by the company hired by the choice of the residents themselves.
Additional services
Companies that install common metering devices for homes offer their customers additional services. In addition to the subsequent maintenance of running devices, firms carry out the installation of additional devices that contribute to even greater savings for a fee.These include a special unit for automatically adjusting the heating system and a device that monitors electricity consumption.
All residents have the right to choose their own “equipment” and can agree on auxiliary devices or purchase devices without additional adjustment elements.
Device features
Authorities require the installation of meters for total resources in apartment buildings, since such devices can identify the real consumption of resources. For example, if only one citizen is registered in an apartment, then tariffs are charged on him alone, and in fact a whole family lives in the apartment, which significantly increases real consumption.
The benefit in the installation of ODPU (which is described above) is also determined for residents who have individual meters of consumed resources in their apartments. Experts believe that individual meters are generally ineffective without installing common ones. This is argued by the fact that the presence of both individual and general metering devices helps:
- detect leakage of resources in a timely manner;
- improve the formula for charging;
- correctly analyze the pressure, temperature and other parameters of the supplied resources;
- correctly determine who exactly incurs losses in case of system violations.
In addition to such a benefit for the management company, an advantage in the installation of ODPU is also available directly to residents with individual meters in apartments. The fact that their presence does not mean that the receipt does not display a line for general housing expenses, which represents the consumption of resources for servicing the elevator, playgrounds, basements and flights of stairs. Ideally, this item should not exceed 2% of the amount of individual consumption, but in fact it takes into account all the resources consumed by the entrance beyond the meter readings, including due to any leaks in the system.
The ODPU installation helps to normalize this column and correctly determine the leak location. What is this ability? Simply, all leaks on the highway will no longer be included in the payment. The device captures only those resources that really entered the house. Of course, leaks can already be inside the house itself, and there are still enough reasons to raise the tariff, but the presence of such a device can significantly reduce costs and is the first step towards savings.
Installation Coordination
The decision to install the ODPU of thermal energy and other resources supplied to the house should be made based on the results of the voting of all residents. In this case, you must draw up the minutes of the meeting. If the residents themselves do not show any initiative, the organization itself can decide on the need to install the ODPP in a court of law, since the law requires the installation of absolutely everyone without exception.
The management company today is not obligated to notify its residents about the planned installation of devices, since this is its legal duty. The Criminal Code does not bear any punishment for not warning owners about this. Among its obligations to residents today is the annual denunciation of information to residents about new energy saving options.
Obligatory to install ODPU can also companies that supply resources to the house.
Who pays?
One of the main questions today: who should pay for the installation of the ODPU? It is not controversial and has no exceptions. Federal law requires owners to fully fund the installation of common house metering devices. The only step towards homeowners is the possibility of installment payment for installation for 5 years, that is, 60 equal payments, which will be carried out along with payment of a receipt for utilities. If financially possible, owners can pay all at once with one payment after the installation of devices or even before the start of their installation.
Sometimes the installation fee can be deducted from the cost of repairs and maintenance of the house, but only if it initially took into account the fees for the installation of ODPU in the future, which is quite rare. Additional income for the whole house can also become payment for installation, if they are no longer included in the costs of other items. Such income should include the amount of payment for the rental of the adjacent territory or part of the building for advertising.
How much does the installation cost?
It is equally important for the owners to know who should pay more for the installation of the ODPU and who is less. Interestingly, the number of residents registered in the apartment does not affect the cost of installation at all. The consumption of each is calculated based on the proportional ratio of the area of the apartment to the total area of the whole house. When calculating, the area of the common property of the house, which is all the non-residential premises of the building, is also taken into account.
Thus, the area of a particular apartment is divided by the total area of the house, after which the result is multiplied by the area of non-residential premises of the entire building - common property in the form of stairwells and so on.
The result is multiplied by the cost of the device and its installation, if necessary, the amount is divided by 60 to determine the amount of monthly installment payments.
What affects the cost?
At whose expense the installation of ODPU is carried out to a greater extent, depends on the area of the property in the house, and not on the number of citizens living, as the government decided and enshrined its decision in the Housing Code.
The cost of the whole procedure depends on the technical characteristics of the house, the availability of auxiliary devices in the selected equipment configuration, as well as the type of resource taken into account. Basically, the amount consists of:
- device cost;
- payment for its installation;
- payment setup and startup;
- the cost of preliminary consultation and designing;
- payment of maintenance in the next 5 years after installation.
For each house, this price is determined individually.
Service and inspection
The right to choose a service company for installed devices is vested in the residents of the Criminal Code. In the future, it is her representative who is allowed into the room with installed meters for checking and taking readings. Maintenance of devices is carried out only after the preparation of a bilateral long-term contract. For this, the company must have the appropriate certificates for work and special approval for the repair, installation and inspections of existing meters.
How is payment made?
Receipts for utility bills come monthly, and owners regularly transfer the required amounts to the accounts of the supplying companies. That is why, for the convenience of those who pay, the installation of ODPU is immediately included as a separate item in the receipt and for its payment it is not necessary to go to the bank a second time a month and bear the additional costs of creating another payment document.
All expenses for ONE are charged according to the tariffs and indications of common meters, which in the first months significantly reduces expenses on receipts. Over time, the installation of devices pays off at times.
The nuances of paying testimony
Some are still convinced that all the remaining tenants are obliged to pay for the malicious non-payer of the entrance, since the difference between the accrued testimony for individual apartments and the whole house spreads at all. In fact, its consumption indicators are taken into account separately according to the tariff or the readings of the individual meters of a particular apartment, and when forming a payment for the general needs of the house, it is deducted from the amount.
Commercial organizations in a residential building also pay their expenses separately from the owners.
Accrual clarifications
The management company is obliged to inform its residents about the installation of the OTPU - what is it, what is the use of devices, and also to answer all disputed questions.For example, if the amount on the receipt seems to be overstated, the tenant may require a detailed explanation of the accrual by writing the appropriate application.
It should indicate the need for clarification on tariffs, calculation formulas, individual and general meter readings, whether non-residential premises are connected to a common meter, and other features. The refusal of the Criminal Code to clarify is illegal.
Conclusion
To control the actual consumption of each resource in the house allows the installation of ODPU. In this case, heat is not only taken into account in real terms, but is also saved thanks to auxiliary elements of the system installed at the request of residents. First of all, such devices help to exclude payment for the loss of resources on the approaches to the house along the highways. Meters are installed separately for gas, electricity, heat, hot and cold water. Their consumption is determined only by the tariff and the volume used, which, with a constant increase in utility prices, helps to significantly save owners' funds.
Today it is the closest to reality way of determining the actual amount of resources used at home. Of course, in this case a small overpayment may be formed, but it will be minimal compared to that which residents of houses without meters have.