Who should pay for meters in Russia?

The beginning of the implementation of the rule on the widespread installation of utility meters can be dated back to 2009. Then a regulation appeared stating that citizens pay for the meters and their maintenance (verification, replacement) is beneficial to them, since it provides correct and individual data on the consumed volume of a particular resource in the family.

At one of the last meetings of the Presidium of the Council of Legislators, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Irina Yarovaya put forward an initiative aimed at freeing citizens from the costs of paying for the installation and replacement of meters in apartments, as well as their subsequent verification, which is also carried out at the expense of consumers.

In her opinion, this responsibility should shift to the shoulders of the service provider, since the current situation is comparable to if we went to the store with our own scales, said Irina Yarovaya.

It is important to note that this proposal will be very relevant for public meters, because despite the fact that they are located outside apartments, Russian citizens must also pay for them. On average, in order to provide residents of one entrance with such meters, each apartment resident will have to contribute about 2000-2500 thousand rubles.

While these devices, for the most part, provide consumption control, which is necessary for the accounting of the resource supply company and allows them to identify illegal use of utility networks, they ensure the collection of additional fees for general household needs.

In addition to the above, the initiative is useless for water, gas and electricity meters in a municipal apartment, due to the fact that the obligation to pay for the installation of all metering devices lies with the administration or municipality (the formal owner of the property).