New rules for recalculation of utility bills: main changes

The amount of utility bills that consumers are forced to pay increases every year. It is not surprising that the share of these payments in the total expenses of Russian citizens is also steadily increasing. The logical consequence is the desire of the majority of consumers of housing services to use any possible opportunity to reduce the amount of amounts transferred to various utility services.

The legislation in force in the housing sector establishes the possibility of recalculating the amount of required utility payments in three cases:

• if services were provided of inadequate quality and not meeting regulatory requirements;
• if there is a break in the provision of services that exceeds in duration the norms established by the Housing Code;
• if a citizen is absent from the premises he occupies for a certain period of time.

All of the listed cases, in the event of which accrued utility bills may be recalculated, often occur in practice, but the last option is the most common. The Housing Code currently in force, as well as other legislative acts, regulate the procedure for recalculation and the mechanism for reducing the amount of payment that the consumer must make.

Recalculation of utility bills in the absence of a tenant

As noted above, the most common case when a consumer can exercise the right to recalculate the amount of utility bills is his prolonged absence from his place of residence. If this time period is more than 5 days, then certain actions should be taken established by the Procedure, which is approved by the relevant Government Resolution:

• contact the management company;
• write a statement about the need to recalculate. A sample application is in the photo below;

• attach documents confirming your absence.
• They may be:

1. a copy of the business trip certificate;
2. certificate of completion of treatment;
3. travel documents in the name of the consumer and confirmation that the consumer has used the passage (boarding pass);
4. hotel bill;
5. certificate of study;
6. document on temporary registration in another locality, etc.

There are two points to consider:

• the payment accrued for general house needs is not subject to recalculation in any of these cases. Thus, the obligation to make payments for general house needs does not depend on direct residence in the apartment;
• services for such types of payments as heating and gas supply, which is produced for the purpose of heating, also cannot be recalculated.

Huge utility bill: how to prove a mistake

Utility fees can be calculated based on meter readings, average values, and standards. The standards for the consumption of utilities, taking into account average monthly data, were determined by the Ministry of Construction. According to his information, the average resident of an apartment in Russia takes a shower 25 times and takes a bath four times a month.

But sometimes the numbers of resource consumed turn out to be far from “normal”. So, in a month, a resident of Lyubertsy found himself owing more than 180,000 rubles for utilities. The most expensive item of expenditure was water. For cold and hot water, as well as sewerage, the cost was 164,000 rubles. Water consumption for the month amounted to 1,200 cubic meters. m., this is usually what public institutions need. The reason, as it turned out, was a failure in data transmission, reported the Moscow Region Today publication. Inconsistencies began after the Lyubertsy City Housing Trust (LGZhT JSC) entered into an agreement with MosOblEIRTS on organizing payments for housing and communal services.

1,200 cu.m. m

these are 66 small pools

In such a situation, the subscriber has only one choice - to prove that the amount in the receipt was charged in error. Ivan Bychkov, head of the Tyumen branch of the Bureau of Lawyers Bureau of Lawyers "De Jure" Bureau of Lawyers "De Jure" Federal rating. group Arbitration proceedings (medium and small disputes - mid market) group Bankruptcy (including disputes) (mid market) group Dispute resolution in courts of general jurisdiction group Family and inheritance law group Criminal law group Natural resources/Energy group Land law/Commercial real estate/Construction 8th place by number of lawyers 13th place by revenue per lawyer (more than 30 lawyers) 15th place by revenue Company profile identifies the three most common reasons for overestimation of the amount in receipts: meter error, payment agent error or user error who transmits incorrect data or misses the deadline for checking instruments accounting.

What to do if the user is at fault

If a user deposited money for a utility bill, but made the wrong invoice, the error can be easily corrected, explains one of the management companies: you need to contact either the bank or the owner of the payment terminal with a check, fill out an application to cancel the erroneous transfer and redirect the money to the correct personal account number ( banks have a sample). There are situations when the owner makes a mistake not in the account number, but incorrectly indicates the data on consumed resources.

Example:

The receipt from a resident of the Moscow region indicated that she owed 68,000 rubles for the resources consumed, and 49,000 rubles. she was charged for hot water. It turned out that when giving her testimony, the woman put a comma in the wrong place. Instead of 2.770 cubic meters, she wrote 277.0.

Bychkov says that such a problem can be solved by contacting the management company. After this, the management company will send an employee who will take meter readings and make a recalculation based on this data.

If you do not submit meter data on time, you can also receive a receipt with an unusually large amount. In such situations, Alexander Titov, lawyer, National Legal Service AMULEX National Legal Service AMULEX Federal rating. , also offers to initiate a counter check. It is important that the device has all the seals and is in good working order. For example, in case No. 33-28813/2020, a consumer who was late in submitting meter readings was able to obtain a recalculation of the fee based on the data that was taken during the inspection of the meter.

Problem counter: how to avoid additional charges

If it turns out that there are problems with the meter, then Bychkov advises paying attention to how the management company will calculate the consumed resource in such a situation - according to the average value or according to the standard. Within three months, the calculation should be based on the average value; it is usually more profitable for the owner. “The meters show that residents spend much less water and light than is stipulated in the standards. So when calculating according to the standard, the fee is usually higher,” said a representative of Russian Utility Systems.

If an excess fee was charged due to missing the deadline for checking the meter, then the management organization will be in the right. So, Irina Averkova* was due to check her water meter, but she forgot about it. And for another two years I paid according to my testimony, but then Vodokanal found out about it. He recalculated the resource consumed. It turned out that Averkova owes almost 122,000 rubles. The plaintiff recovered the entire amount through the court (case No. 33-5985/2019, entered into force).

What to do if the management company made a mistake

Example.
“Our entire house received debt receipts at once,” a Moscow resident wrote on Facebook in the summer of 2020. According to her, these were debt notices for July 2021. And a resident of Zvenigorod on her page complained about heating bills: she was charged 4.07945 Gcal for heating, although according to the meters she consumed half as much - 1.9177 Gcal.

In such situations, you first need to calculate the actual amount of the payment. The owner can come with a payment slip to the management organization and demand clarification on each line:

• why this or that line is included;
• what are the standards and tariffs (why is this size, when, by whom was it approved, for what category of apartment buildings);
• what formulas were used to make the calculations?

Most likely, after calculation, the figure will turn out to be more familiar than the impressive amount indicated on the receipt. Then you can submit a claim for recalculation to the management company or HOA that services the house, or to the agent for receiving meter readings.

Claims due to inaccuracies in calculations can usually be resolved at this stage. The paying agent or organization chosen by your home as a form of management, if it discovers an error, can immediately recalculate.

Ivan Bychkov, head of the Tyumen branch of the BA Bureau of Lawyers "De Jure" Bureau of Lawyers "De Jure" Federal rating. group Arbitration proceedings (medium and small disputes - mid market) group Bankruptcy (including disputes) (mid market) group Dispute resolution in courts of general jurisdiction group Family and inheritance law group Criminal law group Natural resources/Energy group Land law/Commercial real estate/Construction 8th place by number of lawyers 13th place by revenue per lawyer (more than 30 lawyers) 15th place by revenue Company profile

In some cases, Bychkov continues, the Criminal Code may send a specialist to check the integrity of the seal and the serviceability of the meter and record the readings taken in the report. And based on it, adjustments are made.

If the management company or the HOA do not cooperate, you must file a complaint with the State Housing Inspectorate. Payments with which you do not agree must be attached to the application. Upon request, the housing inspection will be required to conduct an unscheduled inspection. If it discovers a violation, it will oblige the management company to recalculate. Bychkov recommends simultaneously sending the same complaint to the prosecutor's office.

According to Art. 156 of the Housing Code (“Amount of payment for residential premises”), if the procedure for calculating payment for housing maintenance is violated, the service provider is obliged to pay a fine to the owner of the premises (50% of the difference between the amount calculated by mistake and the correct amount), reminds Alexander Titov, lawyer at the National Legal AMULEX Service National Legal Service AMULEX Federal rating. . You must send a written application to the Criminal Code. Within 30 days, the company must check the accrual and make a decision on payment if it finds an error.

What if the reason is in the meter?

Example.
A resident of Moscow decided to reinstall the gas stove, called a technician, and he did everything without any complaints. And at the end of the month, the owner received an astronomical gas bill - 600,000 rubles.

There are many similar stories: for example, the water meter increased 60 cubic meters. m and even 180 cubic meters. m instead of the usual 2–3, or the electricity meter showed readings ten times higher than a month earlier. Companies that test and install water meters identify several typical faults that can affect meter readings:

• depressurization of the device;
• leaks;
• blockage in pipes;
• breakdown of the counting mechanism;
• incorrectly selected metering device;
• incorrect installation.

The situation is similar with gas meters. The device may show incorrect data in the following cases:

• breakdown of mechanisms;
• incorrect installation;
• Installation in the wrong location (for example, exposed to direct sunlight).

As soon as the owner realizes that something is wrong with the accounting partitioning, he must notify the management company (MC) or resource supply organization (RSO), says Titov. You need to ask them to check the meter. If the specialist confirms that it is faulty, then the resource will be accrued by calculation. But sometimes the owners find out that the meter was giving erroneous readings when they receive a receipt with a round sum. Bychkov says that in this case it will be necessary to conduct an independent examination of the meter.

Documents that need to be submitted for examination:

• technical passport of the meter;
• acceptance certificate;
• documents on previously conducted examinations;
• reports on repairs performed;
• data on technological indicators;
• information about existing failures or problems.

If the expert confirms that the meter is faulty, the service organization will have to recalculate the accrued amount, explains Bychkov. If the RSO or the Criminal Code does not do this, you will have to seek through the court a recalculation of the fee (exclusion from the personal payment account) for utilities.

Residents against high prices: how to save on utilities and defend your rights

Georgy Borichev* filed such a claim against the Yubileiny-6 housing cooperative. He disputed the accrual of almost 115,000 rubles. for water and insisted that the water meters in his apartment were faulty. This was confirmed by the organization for verification of measuring instruments: according to the expert, the error of the instruments is three times greater than the norm, which means they are faulty.

The first instance sided with the owner and not only ordered the housing cooperative to carry out a recalculation, but also exacted compensation for moral damages, a fine and expenses for a representative in favor of the consumer. But the appeal overturned this decision, deciding that Borichev should pay the invoice. The owner of the apartment is appealing the decision in cassation (case No. 2-1159/19).

A claim for an obligation to recalculate is a rather exotic way of protecting rights, and it does not always work, says Sergei Sergeev, head of practice in the field of housing and communal services, ecology and environmental management of the Moscow Bar Association "Arbat" Moscow Bar Association "Arbat" Federal rating. . He gives other advice.

It is better not to pay an amount that you do not agree with, but instead wait for RSO to file a lawsuit. And already in the process you can seek to cancel the accrual.

Sergey Sergeev, head of practice in the field of housing and communal services, ecology and environmental management MCA Moscow Bar Association "Arbat" Moscow Bar Association "Arbat" Federal rating.

The court, according to the expert, will evaluate the actions of the parties in good faith: how quickly they responded to the situation and whether there was any abuse of law. The second way for the subscriber is to pay the amount on the receipt in full, and then recover the money from the resource supplying organization as unjust enrichment.

*Names and surnames have been changed by the editors

• Anastasia Sinchenkova

Recalculation of subsidies for utility bills

In the case when a consumer recalculates the amount of payments for utility services associated with his long-term temporary absence, it is also necessary to take into account the following several important points.

Firstly, if he receives a subsidy for utility payments, you should know that it should not exceed the actual amount paid by the consumer. Each reporting period it is necessary to compare the indicated payments. If the amount of the subsidy turns out to be more than the amount of utility bills after recalculation, the excess funds should be counted as a subsidy for the next reporting period.

Secondly, the problem of the need to recalculate can be quite simply solved by installing individual metering devices in the apartment, allowing the consumer to pay only for the utilities actually provided. In addition, this measure allows, in most cases, to significantly reduce the transferred amounts when living in an apartment.

Include in the receipt information about the grounds for all recalculations and additional charges

A resident of one of the apartment buildings in the Tver region contacted the State Housing Supervision Authority. She complained about incorrect charges for housing and communal services made on her personal account by the management organization. The consumer considered that the amount of debt indicated in the payment document was too high.

The GZHN body conducted an unscheduled documentary audit of payment calculations on the applicant’s personal account made by the management organization. According to the Administration, as of March 2021, the consumer owed more than 7 thousand rubles for housing and communal services. The audit showed that the debt was overstated by 2 thousand rubles.

GZHI also indicated that in the invoice for December 2021, the MA should have reflected the overpayment made by the resident of the house for housing and communal services in the amount of 0.43 rubles, however, in the specified document there are charges of 4.5 thousand rubles and a debt of almost 1 thousand rubles. At the same time, the management did not provide information in the payment document about recalculations during this period and their reasons.

The supervisory authority issued an order to the management organization to eliminate the violation and excluded the excessively accrued amount of debt from the receipts of the resident of the house. The managing organization did not agree with the position of the GZHN body. She argued that the owner, paying the payment for December according to preliminary calculations in December, knew that in January of the next year there would be a recalculation of the payment for heating and hot water supply.

The UO filed a lawsuit demanding that the order of the State Housing Supervision Authority be declared illegal and unenforceable (case No. A66-9398/2018). The organization referred to the fact that the order does not contain any criteria or calculations that would indicate how the service provider is obliged to exclude the debt from receipts and for what payment period.

What is required and what is prohibited to be placed on payment documents
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What the law says

The terms of remuneration for each employee are determined in an employment or civil law contract.
The employer is obliged to make payments established in the agreement in full and within the agreed period. If the earnings were not calculated in full or the employee is overpaid, then the employer has the right to recalculate. Moreover, the employer will have to pay the underpaid money in any case. But the overpayment may not be collected. This decision is made by the employer on an individual basis.

The following grounds for recount are established by law:

• counting error;
• remunerations calculated at the end of the year;
• change in working conditions under the contract;
• increasing the minimum wage;
• By the tribunal's decision;
• by decision of the labor dispute commission;
• instructions from GIT inspectors;
• earnings indexation;
• downtime, failure to comply with labor standards or duties;
• unearned advances and vacations.

Each basis for recalculation has its own characteristics. Responsibility is provided for failure to comply with the requirements for recalculating wages for previous months.

What reasons could there be?

The procedure is only possible in certain cases. These include:

• leaving residents for a long period of time (five days in a row);
• documented fact of absence of provision of housing and communal services for a certain amount of time;
• confirmation by experts of the provision of housing and communal services of poor quality (low water pressure, insufficient temperature, weak current).

In the first case, recalculation of rent is possible if accounting equipment is not installed in the home, and this is impossible in principle. Moreover, this must be confirmed by documents. If there are no metering devices in the home, but there is an opportunity to install them, then utility bills are not recalculated. This is indicated in paragraph 86 of Resolution 354.

Unforeseen circumstances also serve as grounds for recount. If residents provide a certificate confirming the impossibility of their stay in the apartment due to force majeure circumstances, then payments for housing and communal services may be calculated in a new way in the future.

It is impossible to recalculate a number of housing and communal services. This is about providing for the needs of the home. Sewage is subject to recalculation only in conjunction with services for supplying homes with cold and hot water. This is indicated in paragraphs 87 and 88 of Resolution No. 354.

Also, recalculation is not provided for gas and heating payments. It does not apply to electricity supply either. Recalculation for these housing and communal services will be possible if the consumer proves their poor quality. This is usually done through the court.

Poor provision or interruption of services

When recalculating rent for previous months, the quality of water, heating systems and electrical equipment is taken into account. Water will be considered a poor quality resource if:

• there is sediment in it;
• it has a pungent odor;
• its color has changed;
• it does not correspond to the temperature regime.

The performance of a communal heating system is considered unsatisfactory if the home is not warm enough or there is no heating at all. In this case, the temperature in all rooms of the home must be within the limits of regulatory requirements. The fact of heat loss due to poor quality window and door units is also taken into account. The supply of electricity to housing will be considered inadequate if the current strength or voltage in the system does not comply with regulatory requirements.

Requirements for service interruption have been established. In emergency situations, it is permissible to turn off both cold and hot water only for 4 hours in a row. You can do this no more than 8 hours per month.

For each individual hour of exceeding the specified standards, a reduction in payment for utility services is established by 0.15%.

Utilities can interrupt heating in a house for a total of only one day within a month. A power outage is only permissible for 2 hours if there are two backup power sources. The amount of charges for home electricity supply is also reduced by 0.15%.

To comply with the procedure for recalculating fees for certain types of utility services, the consumer must provide an expert opinion. A specialist should be invited to the apartment to inspect the equipment. The apartment resident who organized the examination pays for the specialist’s work himself. If the fact of poor-quality provision of housing and communal services or their interruption is confirmed, then an expert will draw up a report. The document is transferred by the owners and tenants of housing to the settlement center. It generates new receipts with recalculation. They record the fact of revision of accruals.

Personnel registration

All payment changes must be documented. Including recounts. We will present the paperwork in a summary table.

* * *

Cancellation from 2021 of the recalculation of fees for the temporary absence of a consumer from the residential premises, despite the fact that the absence of an IPU is not due to the lack of technical ability to install it, does not mean that the consumer does not have the right to count on a recalculation of fees for the period of temporary absence from the premises until 2021, without having an act inspection to determine the lack of technical ability to install the meter. However, you should apply for recalculation no later than 30 days from the end of the period of temporary absence.

Housing and communal services: accounting and taxation, No. 9, 2021

Do not include the recalculation amount as a debt when first included in the receipt

The appellate court, having examined the circumstances of the case, did not consider the management organization’s arguments weighty, and the decision of the first court was correct, since the management organization did not indicate the basis for the recalculations and information about them in the consumer’s payment documents:

• for December 2021 due to a software glitch,
• for December 2021, issued in January, about actual accruals in comparison with preliminary ones made in December.

The absence of such information is a violation of clause 69 of RF PP No. 354. As the court noted, because of this, the management organization had no legal grounds to reflect the debt at the beginning of the month in receipts for December 2021 and in subsequent periods.

Information about all recalculations and additional charges, as well as their grounds, must be indicated in receipts for the period when the recalculations were made, but not as a debt. These amounts will become a debt if they are not paid on time after they are indicated on the payment document.

The fact that the applicant renounced claims to the calculations made by the management organization does not prove the illegality of the order. According to the court, this only indicates that the administration has taken measures to implement it.

Having analyzed the situation, the appellate court came to the conclusion that the State Housing Property Authority lawfully issued an order to the management organization to exclude excessively accrued debt from the payment for housing and communal services on the applicant’s personal account.

The court also did not agree with the conclusion of the first instance that the requirements of the Civil Housing Inspectorate specified in the order were unenforceable. The MA was not deprived of the opportunity to correctly reflect accruals and recalculations for the disputed period and confirm the grounds for additional accruals in accordance with clause 69 of the RF PP No. 354.

The decision of the court of first instance was overturned, and the claim of the UO was rejected, which was later confirmed by the cassation court and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

Protection of personal data when entering them into payment documents and in the GIS housing and communal services
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If possible, warn consumers about upcoming recalculations

The court of first instance sided with the management organization: the data indicated in the invoices for payment of housing and communal services reflects the state of the personal account of the resident of the house according to the accounting registers of the management organization. Such registers take into account the actual payment by the consumer for the services provided and form the amount of debt, which is indicated in the payment documents.

According to the court, the State Housing Authority did not provide a counter-calculation that would prove that the amount of debt on the consumer’s personal account was overstated. The supervisory authority ordered the management agency to eliminate the consequences of a possible violation, and not to identify and eliminate its cause.

The judge also noted that the management company in the receipt dated December 25, 2017 notified the consumer that the accruals in it are preliminary and non-final: with the final calculation of the fee in January 2021, the formation of an overpayment and debt is possible.

At the same time, at the moment when the State Housing Inspectorate body sent an order to the management organization, the applicant no longer had any claims against the management authority regarding the calculations, which she reported to the supervisory agency.

The court decided that the order of the Civil Housing Inspectorate violates the principle of enforceability and does not allow the MA to determine the method of its implementation. The document does not contain specific calculations based on meter readings or instructions for specific actions to eliminate violations. Therefore, the order was declared illegal and unenforceable.

Changes in wage conditions

The amount and procedure for remuneration are essential terms of the employment agreement. And with any adjustment to the agreements, the employer must not only reflect the changes in the contract. A salary recalculation is also required.

Often, changes in earnings are made in connection with an increase in the level of wages in the company, an increase in the minimum wage, or a complete change in the wage system in the organization. In all cases, employees must be notified of upcoming changes and salary recalculation in the prescribed manner.

Wage cuts are carried out much less frequently. But circumstances can turn out this way. If wage conditions worsen, employees must be notified of changes in remuneration at least two calendar months in advance. The same period is provided for reduction. For example, when an employee is transferred from full time to 0.75 or part time.

Let us briefly remind you how to formalize the recalculation of wages. Firstly, an order or other order from the manager is required to change the terms of remuneration. Then the new rules and calculation procedure are fixed in the employment contract with the employee. For example, an additional agreement is concluded.

Based on correctly completed personnel documentation, the accountant will recalculate the wages of an employee whose payment conditions have changed.

Comply with the requirements of clause 69 of the RF PP No. 354 and order No. 43/pr

The requirements for the payment document are set out in clause 69 of RF PP No. 354. If the consumer of services receives a recalculation for the period, then it is necessary to enter into the payment document the amount of recalculation and the grounds for additional charges or reduction of the fee (clause “g” of clause 69 of RF PP No. 354).

The management organization in the above-described case No. A66-9398/2018 had grounds to recalculate the fee, but at the same time made two mistakes, which led to the order of the GZhN body:

1. She did not indicate in the payment documents information about the recalculation of fees and the grounds for this.
2. The amount of additional charges was immediately attributed to the consumer’s debt for housing and communal services.

To avoid getting into such a situation, utility service providers must include recalculation amounts in their invoices. Requirements for information on recalculations in receipts for housing and communal services are set out in section. 6 annexes to the order of the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation dated January 26, 2018 No. 43/pr.

At the same time, the MA should remember that the amount of additional charges becomes a debt only after it was indicated on the receipt and was not paid on time.

New provisions encourage the installation of IPU

Along with numerous amendments to the Rules for the provision of public utility services, which enable the contractor to punish unscrupulous consumers with rubles, the principle of recalculating fees in the event of a consumer’s temporary absence from the premises was fundamentally changed. By the way, the recalculation procedure remained virtually unchanged.

So, if previously the recalculation was carried out for all consumers temporarily absent in the premises not equipped with an IPU, now the recalculation is carried out for consumers who were absent in the premises not equipped with an IPU due to the lack of technical ability to install it, confirmed in the prescribed manner (clause 86 Rules for the provision of public services). That is why the consumer’s application for recalculation should be accompanied not only by documents confirming the duration of the period of temporary absence, but also by an inspection report to determine the lack of technical feasibility of installing an IPU (clause 92 of the above rules).

In the absence of an IPU and the lack of confirmation of the lack of technical ability to install it, as well as in the event of a malfunction of the IPU in a residential premises (if the consumer fails to eliminate such a malfunction within 30 days), recalculation is not made. An exception is the case of the absence of all persons living in the residential premises as a result of force majeure, confirmed by relevant documents (for example, the eviction of citizens from their home due to an emergency).

The above provisions of the rules actually encourage owners of premises in apartment buildings to install IPU, if the appropriate technical capability is available. Otherwise, when calculating the fee, an increasing factor will be applied, and you can count on a reduction in the amount of payment only if the number of consumers changes (deregistration at the place of residence or temporary stay).

How to recalculate

There is no single procedure for recalculation - all situations are individual. Here are the key rules and recommendations:

1. Corrections can be made manually. Or use specialized accounting programs for calculations.
2. Make adjustments to calculations only on the basis of administrative documentation.
3. If you need to make a deduction from earnings, be sure to obtain the employee’s consent.
4. Follow the deadlines for recalculations when errors are identified. It is possible to correct an accounting deficiency in the accrual only within a calendar month.

IMPORTANT!

It is impossible to withhold wages without the written consent of a subordinate, regardless of the types of payments and the reasons for the transfer. An employee can challenge any actions of the employer in court.