Family or corporate budget almost alwaysincludes such an item of expenditure as the payment of water on the meter. Moscow, St. Petersburg, another million-plus city or a provincial settlement, it does not matter - the majority of citizens have counters. There are a large number of types of meters, as well as technological solutions underlying the operation of these devices. There are many nuances of installing and replacing devices.
The historical way of these units is interesting, the factsabout how and by whom water meters were invented. Payment through the Internet of receipts on housing and communal services, the use of auto payments through a credit card, all kinds of mobile applications for accounting for the costs of public utilities are familiar to us trends of today. But it is not without interest to look into the details of the appearance of equally familiar instruments in the face of counters in historical retrospect.
Counters are quite simple to install.From the point of view of the law, they can be installed independently, but in practice many organizations responsible for the registration of devices refuse to the owners of apartments that have mounted the meter on their own. What are the reasons for the behavior of these structures? And in general, how profitable is it to set water meters?
Accurately measure the amount consumed by residentsapartment or house water helps a special meter. It is known that the tariffication of utilities can go according to the standard or in fact the calculation of the volume of water, electricity or gas, which are received by the consumer. Counters give homeowners the opportunity to optimize water consumption and thereby save: in many cases, utility calculation formulas tied to the standard make the use of water supply less profitable than when pricing based on meter readings.
Installation of water metering devicesIt is especially beneficial if many people are registered in the apartment. The standard in this case will be multiplied by their number. Even if the person having registration does not live on the living space, water charges will nevertheless be charged.
In addition, the standard may include the volume of utilities, much larger than the average resident spends. To make payment of water on the counters, as a rule, economically feasible.
Пользование подобным устройством включает a few nuances. First of all, the owners of apartments should take readings from the meters, as well as transfer them to the housing and utility service. Secondly, artificially making changes to the testimony is not allowed. Thirdly, it is important to transfer figures from the meters on time: if this is not done, the service company has the right to charge the amount for water according to the regulations (and this can be very unprofitable). As a rule, there are two metering devices for apartments: a hot water meter and a similar device for cold water. An exception may be the option when there is a water heater in the apartment. In this case, only payment of cold water occurs - by meter or without.
There is historical information that the firstprototype counter for water appeared already in the Middle Ages. Encyclopedic sources say that the monks of one of the monasteries in Lombardy sold the surplus water used to irrigate the meadows. To measure its quantity, water meters were used in the form of structures with a hole of several centimeters, through which for a certain amount of time and with constant pressure one Milanese ounce of water flowed.
In more or less modern form, the counter forwater appeared in the 19th century, thanks to the efforts of the German inventor Karl Wilhelm Siemens. The device was mechanical. He worked like a water mill in miniature. An impeller was present in it - an element that allows to receive water flows on the blades and transmit the rotation to the counting mechanism, and then to the dial. In a matter of years, the device designed by scientists became popular in Germany, and after a while its modifications came to Russia.
Hot water supplies in Russia cancarried out in two ways. The first is through the so-called "closed water systems". The cost of water is set by the supplier, based on the unity of the tariff. As an alternative, there are “open” systems: in them the cost of a cubic meter of water for a consumer is made up of two components: the price of cold water and the price of the so-called coolant.
For this pricing system in differentThe country's cities can vary greatly. But in many sources the opinion is traced that the rates for hot water in open systems are significantly lower than in closed systems. So the use of counters in them is especially important and saves even more.
Let's see what the current billing itselfexpensive water - hot - when using meters for residents of Moscow in 2014 (for example, prices approved by OJSC "MOEK"). Take the option for closed networks. The tariff for residents of the capital (individuals) is 126.93 rubles per cubic meter of heat carrier before July 1, 2014, and 127.57 units of the Russian currency after. There is information that prices from November jump up to 135.79 rubles per cubic meter. However, there is a subsidy - from July 1 to November 1, it will be 21.05 rubles.
Cold water costs the consumer the least.It is used for a huge amount of domestic needs. Based on what factors form the tariffs for cold water in Russia? First of all, it is the cost of its receipt. Before the water enters the faucet, it flows in the water supply system, and even earlier it goes through the most complicated stages of purification after it is obtained from a river or a reservoir.
It is worth noting that the supply of cold water, inin accordance with Russian laws, is not a type of business (despite the fact that city waterways sometimes are private organizations), and final tariffs for consumers are formed at the level of municipal authorities (and in some cases federal authorities are involved in this). The cost price, in addition to technological processes, includes remuneration of employees of city waterways, depreciation costs, electricity costs and other consumed resources. The invoice for payment for cold water is almost always added to the amount of wastewater.
Let's see what tariffs are set in 2014for cold water in the Russian capital on the example of prices set by OAO Mosvodokanal. In 2014, there are two periods in which different tariffs apply - before July 1 and after. In the first half of the year, cold water cost the Muscovites 28 rubles 40 kopecks per cubic meter (plus 20.15 per drainage). From November 1, prices will noticeably grow. Residents of the capital will pay 29 rubles 19 kopecks for one cubic meter of cold water (and 20.69 for drainage). It is important to know that these tariffs do not include the possible commission that banks charge when they pay for the meter readings of water in favor of the suppliers.
Исследование одной из крупных российских marketing firms have shown that Moscow cold water tariffs are not the most expensive, but not the cheapest in the world. For comparison: residents of some Danish cities are forced to pay about 10 dollars for 1 cubic meter of water (with drainage). At the same time, water can be dispensed with to citizens of Turkmenistan altogether free of charge provided it consumes no more than 250 liters per day. Among the countries with the most expensive water are Belgium, Norway, and Germany (prices there are about $ 6-7 per cubic meter, including drainage). Very cheap water in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Cuba. A cubic meter there costs a few cents.
Заплатить за воду и другие коммунальные услуги (as a rule, all payments are made in the same receipt from the HOA or the management company) in different ways. Among the traditional - a trip to the bank and pay "out the window" to the cashier. It is possible to do the same using bank terminals (if necessary, a credit institution consultant will help to do this). Another option is to use an analogue of these devices from specialized payment systems (QIWI, the "City" system, etc.). Both of these options are good lack of queue. However, not in all cases in the database of payment providers is the necessary HOA or management company - this is the factor that keeps many Russians from paying in these ways.
Many Russians see innovation as convenient.A method that allows you to pay for water on the counters, as well as other utilities, is online banking. True, it must be connected within a separate procedure and be able to properly use this tool. One of the indisputable advantages of this method is that in the database of the bank with high probability there will be any HOA or the Criminal Code of the city. Convenience is also that all receipts are stored in electronic form. Along with online banking, e-wallets of payment systems are often used (the same QIWI, Yandex.Money, etc.). But they are characterized by weaknesses inherent in payment terminals. There are also specialized online services that allow you to pay for water on the counters, as well as many other services with a VISA or MasterCard credit card.
The installation of the counter is not desirable to makehomeowners. This should be handled by experts. You can find them by contacting a housing and utilities company or an organization whose main activity is the installation of meters. The kit required for the correct installation of water meters, usually includes the following plumbing materials. This is a pair of threaded ball valves (external, internal), two coarse water filters, the actual hot water meter and its counterpart to cold. Two so-called check valves will also be needed (they do not allow the counters to pull back). After installing the counters on the pipes, specialists from the city water canal should arrive. They put seals on metering devices, thereby legalizing their use.
The need to contact specialistsThis is largely due to the fact that when installing meters, it is sometimes necessary to temporarily turn off some public utility systems belonging to other apartments. From the moment of justification of inconveniences for neighbors and ending with the correct shutdown of the systems in question, an experienced specialist will be better able to handle the installation of meters.
A water meter, like any other mechanism, canfor many reasons to fail. It will need to be replaced. It is not recommended to do it yourself, as in the case of the installation. There are cases when the landlord produced all the technical procedures flawlessly, but he was denied to seal the appliances in the city water supply channel, referring to the unprofessional installation.
However, if the landlord has the desireto replace the counter on its own, then it should take into account the following nuances. First, there is an arrow on each water metering device - it should coincide with the direction of the water flow. Secondly, the counter should be set so that the distance between it and the riser is at least 30 cm. Third, the dial of the device should be located so that the readings are clearly visible. It is known that the payment of hot water on the meter (as the most expensive product of housing and communal services) requires the transfer of extremely accurate data to suppliers. Recalculation for incorrect testimony, some housing and communal organizations are reluctant.
Paying for water without a meter is of course possible.It is still carried out by very many tenants on the basis of regulations. But Russians are concerned about the question of what will happen if the meters are not installed at all. According to some experts, the legislation can not give a clear answer to this question. On the one hand, Federal Law No. 261 “On Energy Saving” obliged apartment owners to start paying for water by the meter before July 1, 2012. But at the same time, the lawmakers did not identify any methods of administrative influence on the owners of residential premises that did not deliver the meter by that moment, as experts note.
However, there are a number of laws in forcewhich, from January 1, 2015, in those apartments where it is technically possible to install metering devices, but this is not done, water consumption standards will be multiplied by a multiplying factor. This means that water metering rates for the meter will be more likely to be more profitable than calculations according to standards.
