Utility companies proposed to be fined: who will be responsible for errors in payments

Consumers and providers of housing and communal services may have equal rights. A group of deputies proposed imposing fines on resource supply organizations and management companies for errors in calculations and late issuance of invoices to Russians. Today there is not a word in the Housing Code on this topic. Meanwhile, the responsibility of payers, as well as types of penalties for violation of payment deadlines, are described in some detail. Is this approach fair? Will they support the initiative and will citizens stop overpaying for utilities?

A group of deputies is introducing a bill to the State Duma on the possibility of revising charges for housing and communal services. According to the developers, the Housing Code now regulates in detail the obligation of citizens to pay for housing and communal services, providing for liability for the formation of debt and the accrual of interest for each day of delay.

At the same time, any liability of management organizations, homeowners’ associations, housing cooperatives, resource supply organizations and other legal entities or individual entrepreneurs to whom fees are paid for incorrect calculations and subsequent increases in payments for expired periods is in no way fixed at the legislative level.

“Resource supply organizations must also bear responsibility for their work. They couldn’t count on time, they made a mistake, there’s no need to pass it on to the citizens,” the deputies believe.

Overpayments for housing and communal services happen quite often. Several factors contribute to this, but in the context of the responsibility of the management company or resource supplying organization, two reasons are relevant, says Artem Deev, head of the analytical department at AMarkets.

“The first is a break in the provision of services, when due to accidents, repairs or preventive maintenance, houses may be left without water, electricity, heating, or gas. The timing can be different: from several hours to several days or even weeks, which we saw, for example, recently in the Moscow region, when due to severe frosts in several settlements residents were left without heat. Even if there was an emergency, citizens should not pay for a service not provided. But responsible legal entities often do not include recalculation in the payment order,” the expert continues. – The second reason is the low quality of services. This is if the service is provided, but poorly, and the quality (water temperature, room temperature, network voltage, etc.) is below SanPiN standards. Here the situation is even more complicated, since, unlike an emergency shutdown, it is also necessary to prove that the service is of insufficient quality.”

At the same time, Deev emphasizes that it is very difficult to calculate the specific amount of overpayments by citizens due to the dishonesty of the management company and resource supply organizations.

“The proposed bill on the possibility of revising charges for housing and communal services is a very relevant measure. The Housing Code regulates the obligation of citizens to pay for housing and communal services and introduces sanctions for violation of payment deadlines – which means there should be symmetrical responsibilities for those who provide housing and communal services,” the MK interlocutor is convinced.

The fact that resource supply organizations and management companies are not responsible for errors is a gap in Russian legislation in the housing and communal services sector, says Ivan Samoilenko, managing partner of the communication agency B&C Agency.

“In fact, there are situations when supply companies, due to a technical failure or other factors, make erroneous charges for consumers. This is always negative for people and businesses. After such accruals, consumers usually still receive letters from resource supply organizations demanding repayment of debts or recalculation. All this adds confusion to payments, and for businesses it is extremely important not to allow any distortions in accounting for housing and communal services,” says Samoilenko.

According to the expert, about 10% of calculations are regularly made with errors for various reasons. And even disciplined payers (both individuals and legal entities) are forced to make additional payments, although the amounts planned for housing and communal services are different.

“Such measures will increase payment discipline, since the responsibility of management companies and resource supply organizations will increase – they will monitor the adequate operation of their online services and specialists in payment centers. And this is done in the interests of consumers, which is certainly a big plus for citizens and businesses,” he continues.

Popular Front expert, member of the Public Council of the federal project “School of Literate Consumers” Pavel Sklyanchuk shared the problem of incorrect charges for housing and communal services: they can be intentional and unintentional.

In the first case, such actions fall under the criminal article of fraud. In the second, this is a question of imperfection of billing information systems (automated settlement systems – “MK”), which are used by management companies and utility companies to generate payment documents. In this case, according to current legislation, recalculation is required in subsequent periods.

“For similar actions of citizens related to late or incomplete payment for housing and communal services, a penalty is charged. In this sense, it would be fair to align approaches. However, in order for the mechanism to work in practice, approval is necessary from the Russian Ministry of Construction,” Sklyanchuk emphasized.