In April, utility bills will change: what you have to pay for

April bills will be recalculated again: for the Russians, the payment scheme for housing and communal services is once again changing. Now, in addition to traditional positions, we will have to pay for resources for common house needs: cleaning of entrances, stairwells and elevators, hot and cold water, electricity and heat in common spaces. Previously, these payments fell on the shoulders of management companies. The public utilities themselves call the upcoming increase softly – an adjustment. But it is possible that we can see astronomical figures in the tickets. Common house needs will be recalculated and bills for the entire past year will be rolled out.

The heads of management companies do not hide their satisfaction: now they will not have to pay huge arrears, all expenses will be distributed among the apartment owners, by square meters.

Previously, there was complete chaos, they told us in one of the Criminal Code. Approximately 20-25% of residents disabled or “twisted” apartment meters in order not to pay for resources. All debts fell on the management company. Now it will become pointless to steal from each other, you still have to pay everyone.

– For a large house, such losses – the difference between home and apartment metering devices – could be up to 100 thousand rubles a month, – they told us.

Now the cost of ODN will be fully borne by the tenants. And apparently, public utilities are determined, as part of the payment for common house needs, to hang on us and all their debts …

The past year can safely be considered the year of the triumph of public utilities. From July 1st, housing and communal services tariffs were increased by almost 5%, from December 1st there was an unscheduled indexation by another 9% – for the resources used: heat, water, light. In January, it turned out that heat mark-ups in many regions went far beyond these 9%. And now here’s another ODN. Yes, they, too, can be safely added to the gains of public utilities over the past year. After all, the recalculation will be made for the entire year 2022. True, for the last year the recalculation is postponed: not from April 1, but from June 1.

And from April, the recalculation will affect the current costs of ODN. The formula is simple: from the general indicators for spending the resources of the house, those that the tenants paid during the month according to their metering devices are deducted. And the difference is distributed among the owners of apartments.

Experts argue that it is not necessary for all residents of apartment buildings to increase utility bills. Residents of 41 regions are at risk, where the cost of utilities on average can jump by 10-20%.

It seems that in our communal apartment there is not a single liter of water or heat energy left, for which the apartment owners do not pay.

We asked Pavel Sklyanchuk, an expert of the Popular Front on communal issues, to tell us more about the upcoming reform.

– They say that the increase in the cost of common house needs will affect residents of 41 regions of the country. Who exactly needs to fork out?

– I do not agree with this assessment by regions. The change in the methodology for calculating the ODN applies to each apartment building, the presence of metering devices in it, and many other points. Typical new buildings from the beginning of the 2000s are almost all equipped with the necessary equipment. Probably, we can say that the residents there pay for the actual consumption of all resources and utility bills should not change much

– But we have a large part of the housing stock – houses for 40-50 years, or even older. Their residents will find out about the “adjustment” when utility bills arrive. How will they be calculated?

– For a long time, the calculation method for calculating the volume of consumption of communal resources was practiced in the housing and communal services. Municipalities by their acts set consumption standards. Often, in order not to cause social tension, such indicators were underestimated. Now utility companies are switching to the analog method in assessing costs. From the point of view of the regulator – the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation – this is a step in the right direction. The actual consumption of the resources of the house, equipped with the necessary metering devices, is determined. And these indicators are automatically transferred to exactly the same houses that do not have metering devices. This is a more objective approach to the use of resources.

– But interested officials can take houses with maximum indicators of heat or water consumption as a “sample” and “replicate” them to other buildings …

– I do not rule out that this can be, in life there are many different situations. And the risks of overpayments cannot be ruled out. It all depends on the number of residents in the same houses, it can be different. Or whether there are shops on the ground floor and what settlement schemes they have with. management and resource companies. But sooner or later, in the housing and communal services sector, a debit needs to be combined with a loan. We spend a lot more resources than we pay for them.

– Judging by the mood of public utilities, they are ready to recalculate bills strongly in their favor. If homeowners are dissatisfied, where should they complain?

– If the payment increases by more than 30%, people have the right to demand a recalculation. In the management company itself, in the housing inspection or in the prosecutor’s office.