For the sake of economy, citizens are interested in installing individual instrumentation. The vast majority of utility users do not encounter unusual situations. However, in particular,
the verification period of water
meters is not only an instrument of state regulation of the Russian market of sanitary services, but also an object of legal disputes by the population. Unfortunately, the problem of bottlenecks also exists in this area of state regulatory regulation of water consumption metering.
This article aims to highlight aspects of the provision of this service. For binding, we choose the housing and communal services of Moscow with its normative field.
General view
Is water meter calibration necessary? Of course yes. Her need is aggravated by old rusting water pipes, poor quality water, low-quality meters. This procedure (although variously regulated) is normatively present in the municipal regulation of various countries. Examples of its clear regulation are Germany and the United States.
As you know, the devices with which consumers monitor their water consumption, it is customary to classify as individual metering devices (IPU). This term will also appear as a synonym in our text.
How is the maintenance of various meters organized? According to international experience, a one-year service cycle is desirable. Regarding the counters we are considering, we can say that this can come even from one technical detail: filter clogging. And it is known that they are recommended to be cleaned once a year.
Citizen's appeal
To check the counter installed in his home, a citizen turns to a commercial company licensed for such work. Do not rush to go to those service organizations that besiege your mailbox with letters (although if you go along the shortest path, this is also an option).
Thrifty people find for themselves a service company with the most affordable rates. At the same time, the ability of the company not to change, but to check the existing counters is stipulated (this is cheaper). If you intend to install, ask if the company installs meters purchased by users. Honor and glory, if you choose in the company store, based on the configuration of your pipes, the German meters of the firms "ABB", "Zenner-Vodopribor", "Viterra", "Wehrle". This is the big league. You can choose Russian (remembering that it was manufactured under a Western license). However, in the latter case, it is worth taking an interest in its verification period, fixed in the instructions.
At the same time (an important circumstance!), You should prepare yourself for verification by the meters available to you. You should have with you the data sheets of the devices, acts on their commissioning and sealing, preliminary acts of verification. If there is a space in the documents, you can count on additional costs.
About the legal aspects that accompany the transaction, we will express our thoughts later. In the meantime, we’ll clarify how long it takes to verify water meters. In ZhEKe they will answer you without stumbling: “For hot water meters - 4 years; for cold - 5-6 years. "
The timing of verification will not let you forget
On the eve, as a rule, the consumer receives a notification from the management company (as an option - from the Housing Office.) This process is strictly accounted for, since periodic calibration of measuring instruments is an important revenue item for housing and communal services. It should be
borne in mind that the
verification of hot water
meters is traditionally done more often. However, in any case, all information on the installations, verification, etc. of your devices must be submitted by you to the management company and agreed with it.
As mentioned above, you contact the service organization directly for verification. Not necessarily in commercial, it is possible in the center of regional metrology and standardization or in Mosvodokanal. If you are at a loss to find the inspector, contact a management company that will recommend the organization you need for help.
Two types of meter service companies
There are two types of maintenance: periodic, once every 4-5 years (when it is taken as the basis for checking the hot water meter), and constant (monthly) after-sales service. In the first case, payment by the consumer is made upon verification. In the second, it is divided into equal parts and occurs every month along with the rent.
Regarding the second option: service maintenance is fixed by the same name agreement. This approach is more in line with technical standards. In this case, the verification itself is not paid separately by the consumer. The service company flyers show this process as "free verification of water meters."
Often, service companies practice stocks of the first free verification and installation (which, in principle, is beneficial to both them and consumers) when the customer signs a service agreement with them. What can’t you do to wipe your competitors nose by driving consumers away from them?
Under such circumstances, service companies temporarily incur some costs guaranteed to be paid by the client in the future. However, the subject of our discussion is periodic maintenance.
Knock Knock. I am a fitter
As we mentioned above, the consumer contacts the service center by phone or through a form on the site. If we talk about the executive side of the issue, then the verification of hot water meters, as well as cold water, is carried out in two ways: with the replacement of the device and without it.
An important circumstance: the specialists who arrived to carry out the verification must have with them a copy of the certificate authorizing them to perform such work. Its authenticity is verified using the state registry of accreditation.
Checking the counter without replacement
In “clean calibration”, the most convenient and economical for Muscovites is the classic service of water meters using the portable calibration unit UPSZH-3-PM.
In practice, it looks as follows. Using an adapter, the unit is connected to the mixer, after which it has been drained into the sink. On the limiting stream of water, a measurement is made. Then, with the same timing - on an existing user measuring device. In this case, deviations are permissible - plus or minus 5%. Such verification of water meters without removal, lasting 30-40 minutes, is the most massive.
If the individual metering device, which is generally operational, requires an in-depth examination, it is dismantled (the client is temporarily provided with another meter to replace it). The dismantled device is delivered to the laboratory. Estimated time of verification is two days. Not because of the complexity (it takes the same 30-40 minutes), but because of the presence of significant volumes of homogeneous work and, accordingly, the sequence. Thus, verification of water meters without removal is carried out by authorized (licensed) companies. For the consumer, it costs a sum of about one thousand rubles.
Verification with counter replacement
This type of maintenance, as a rule, is carried out by service companies using pre-purchased individual instrumentation. The cost of such work is higher than the service considered by us earlier without removing the counters. The average prices are presented here, therefore it is indicated whether the calibration of the cold water meter is meant or hot. Approximate tariffs for these works are presented in table 1.
Table 1. The cost of calibration work relative to the meters of hot water supply (cold water) in Moscow
Type of maintenance | Cost of work |
Water meter installation | from 1.5 to 1.8 thousand rubles. |
Installation of cold / hot water meters | from 3.0 thousand rubles to 4.5 thousand rubles. |
Verification without removing the water meter | from 0.95 thousand rubles. |
Verification with counter replacement | 1.6 thousand rubles |
Water meter maintenance | from 0.24 thousand rubles to 0.66 thousand rubles |
Legal regulation
If the practical side of the issue is simple and understandable, then the legal language is not turned so to speak. Let's start with the recent history of the provision of this service in Belokamennaya (as we will see later, it matters). Since 2004 and for 7 years, it has been regulated by the Moscow Government Decree No. 77-PP of 02/10/2004, according to which the verification period for water meters was 5-6 years for cold (depending on the design) and 4 years for hot water.
Thus, the most favorable conditions were created for licensed intermediaries in the market for this service and for raising tariffs.
Then they try to change the situation in the direction of democratizing service prices. Federal Law No. 102-FZ “On the Unity of Measurements”, article 13 establishes that the inter-check interval should be determined by the manufacturer (and it is often longer than 4-6 years). The process is evolving. The Moscow Government on December 26, 2012 removes the controversial clause 3.1 of Resolution No. 77-PP by the new Resolution No. 831-PP “On Amendments ...”. Finally, it was said fundamentally that the verification period for water meters was not tied to an administratively established standard, but to the technical parameters specified in the device data sheet. However, not all so simple!
The position of the prosecutor. Restoration of legal norms
This step was forced - under pressure from the Prosecutor's Office, which responded to numerous complaints from citizens. The supreme body supervising the implementation of the legislation established that the above clause 3.1, which unreasonably establishes the frequency of verification of water meters, does not comply with the legislation of the Russian Federation.
This was indicated in his official letter by the first deputy. Attorney General of the Russian Federation A. Busman. It was under pressure from the prosecutor's office to eliminate the conflict with the current legislation, in fact, and adopted the resolution No. 831-PP. Consumers complained not only of the unreasonable tariffs, but also that the verification of water meters without removing them systematically at the discretion of believing intermediaries was replaced by a more expensive replacement with a low-quality meter, guaranteed to break after 3-4 years.
This variant of market development seriously curtailed the interest of intermediaries, who have managed to “grow” in both management companies and ZhEKi since 2004. In addition, it is obvious that Resolution No. 831-PP was signed by the Moscow Government by force (with the filing of the Prosecutor's Office), that is, as the people say, "signed with reluctance." Obviously, it is still being executed with the same "reluctance." The evidence of this seditious thought can be considered real circumstances set forth below.
Position of intermediaries
At this stage, the Decision adopted by Sobyanin is systematically opposed by a scheme in which commercial intermediaries and federal management companies participate at a visible level.
Of course, it also has its own gaps, but not every citizen has enough money and time to “raise” this issue with the prosecutor's office. And this is a bet.
At the first step of communication with the consumer, the operators of licensed companies fundamentally deny its effectiveness. “There is no such regulation!” - they say, in fact, "in the old way" by linking the verification period of water meters to 6 and 4 years, that is, allegedly being in the legal field of the already repealed Resolution. The arguments of the businessmen are quite critical: “If it existed, we would know!” Don't you think, dear readers, that this logic is in advance losing to any consumer, which reminds us of the classic example of "Trick 22"? "Merchants" send "too smart" users for advice to the management company.
Position of management companies
Then comes into action "player number 2" - the federal management company. She is just as “sincerely” as a commercial intermediary, “does not know” about the frequency of checking water meters, according to Ordinance 328. But unlike the komersants, she has leverage to pressure the consumer.
We will operate on the facts: in this situation, the management company operates in a "fully autonomous mode." Let's trace this moment:
- In fact, she herself establishes a norm for the timing of verification of counters (arbitrarily “reanimating” the canceled norm).
- It organizes control and notification itself (using the "help" of commercial intermediaries and housing offices).
- If the deadline for verification of the water meter has expired, the Criminal Code itself punishes the ruble of consumers who have expired in an unlawful manner the designated inspection period. They are transferred from individual to common metering devices, and the formula for calculating the water flow rate changes. (According to the standard (value approximately), 9 m 3 per person, based on the number of registered people, regardless of their actual availability.)
Do management companies really have enough “sovereign” potential for non-compliance with the regulatory requirements of Resolution No. 831-PP? The question, of course, is rhetorical.
Output
The above situation in the metropolitan market of verification of water meters requires its legal permission from the state. In the language of macroeconomics, the problem is that in the market of numerous service companies there is no pure competition leading to the quality of services and a truly
equilibrium price. This happens for one simple reason: all organizations, working with the state monopoly (management companies), in fact, become the same monopoly.
And the monopoly behaves appropriately to its nature - it maximizes profits. In this case, the population suffers.
An example of the most economical calibration option to date is demonstrated by Mosvodokanal. The verification of water meters carried out by the specialists of this enterprise is two times cheaper than with other licensed service companies - about 474 rubles. This is a good signal for players in this market to lower their already high rate of return.
The conclusion suggests itself that more active state regulation of the excess profits of this monopoly is necessary, where the Moscow Government together with the Prosecutor's Office should play a decisive role in the spirit of oversight of the implementation of Decree No. 831-PP. The deadline for checking water meters should be set in accordance with international practice to resolve this issue: not declaratively, but according to technical instructions. The latter would be logical.