To what extent can hot water be turned off by law: in the summer of 2021, where to complain?

Regular shutdown of hot water in apartments with central water supply is a real housing and communal scourge that annually ruins the lives of millions of our fellow citizens.

This problem becomes especially urgent in the summer, when in hot and stuffy weather hot water is turned off for 2-3 weeks. For many people, this state of affairs is akin to a natural disaster.

What is the situation with turning off hot water from a legal point of view? For how long can it be turned off and how many times per season? Let's try to understand the intricacies of housing and communal legislation!

Why is the water turned off and is it possible to do this?

Turning off hot water supply if necessary is a legal procedure. The fact is that any communications, especially water pipes, periodically require major or routine repairs. At the same time, it is necessary to understand that it is impossible to carry out maintenance or replacement of pipes and other equipment without turning off the water. It is for this reason that every year tens and hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens are forced to sit without water and wait for repairs to utility networks to be completed.

However, the procedure for stopping the water supply is strictly regulated by a number of documents, among which the main ones are the Rules and norms for the technical operation of the housing stock (approved by the Resolution of the Gosstroy of Russia dated September 27, 2003), as well as the Rules for the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings (approved by Government Decree No. 354 of May 6, 2011).

Turning off hot water is almost a tradition in the summer; there is probably no city in our country where hot water is not turned off. Also, very often we have cases that most residents consider acceptable, when cold or warm water flows from a hot water tap, or water generally does not flow at a certain time of the day (due to lack of pressure), etc. In this article we will try to analyze the basic requirements that hot water must meet.

What is hot water supply?

Hot water supply is a round-the-clock supply of hot water to the consumer of appropriate quality, supplied in the required volumes through the connected network to the residential premises.

Requirements that hot water must meet

Hot water supply in accordance with Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 354 of 05/06/2011. “On the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings” must comply with the following requirements (deviation from which is not permitted):

1) Uninterrupted round-the-clock hot water supply throughout the year;

2) Permissible deviation of hot water temperature at the point of water collection:

— at night (from 0.00 to 5.00 hours) by no more than 5°C;

- in the daytime (from 5.00 to 0.00 hours) by no more than 3°C

3) Constant compliance of the composition and properties of hot water with sanitary standards and rules (SanPiN 2.1.4.2496-09);

4) The pressure in the hot water supply system at the point of analysis is from 0.03 MPa (0.3 kgf/sq. cm) to 0.45 MPa (4.5 kgf/sq. cm).

For how long can hot water be turned off?

In accordance with Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 354 of 05/06/2011. “On the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings” hot water can be turned off:

1) 8 hours (in total) for 1 month, 4 hours at a time, in case of an accident on a dead-end highway - 24 hours in a row;

2) The duration of interruptions in hot water supply in connection with annual repair and maintenance work in centralized networks of engineering and technical support for hot water supply is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on technical regulation (SanPiN 2.1.4.2496-09).

In accordance with clause 3.1.11 of SanPiN 2.1.4.2496-09, approved by the resolution of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare (Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation) dated April 7, 2009 No. 20: During the period of annual preventive repairs shutdown of hot water supply systems should not exceed 14 days. Thus, in the summer, hot water can only be turned off for 14 days!

Recalculation of payment for hot water

1) For each hour of exceeding the permissible duration of a hot water supply interruption, calculated in total for the billing period in which the specified excess occurred, the amount of payment for utility services for such billing period is reduced by 0.15 percent of the fee determined for such billing period.

2) For every 3 °C deviation from the permissible deviations in hot water temperature, the amount of payment for utility services for the billing period in which the specified deviation occurred is reduced by 0.1 percent of the fee determined for such billing period, for each hour of deviation from the permissible deviations in total during the billing period. For each hour of supply of hot water, the temperature of which at the point of collection is below 40 °C, in total during the billing period, payment for consumed water is made at the tariff for cold water.

3) If the composition and properties of hot water do not comply with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on technical regulation, the amount of payment for a utility service determined for the billing period is reduced by the amount of the fee calculated in total for each day of provision of a utility service of inadequate quality (regardless of meter readings).

4) For each hour of hot water supply in total during the billing period in which the pressure deviation occurred: if the pressure differs from the established one by no more than 25 percent, the amount of the utility fee for the specified billing period is reduced by 0.1 percent of the fee. ; if the pressure differs from the established one by more than 25 percent, the amount of payment for a utility service is reduced by the amount of the fee calculated in total for each day of provision of a utility service of inadequate quality (regardless of the meter readings).

Responsibility for violation of requirements for the provision of hot water

Currently, liability for violation of the requirements for the provision of hot water, determined by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 354 of 05/06/2011. “On the provision of public services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings” is established in Art. 7.23 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. In accordance with this article, violation of the normative level or regime for providing the population with public utilities - entails the imposition of an administrative fine on officials in the amount of five hundred to one thousand rubles; for legal entities - from five thousand to ten thousand rubles.

Permissible periods for turning off hot water by law

The period of time during which hot water supply can be legally interrupted depends on the specific reason.

These documents state that the recommended repair period associated with the cessation of hot water supply is 14 days. However, the same Rules make a significant reservation that in each case the repair time is set by the local administration.

However, if we are not talking about an emergency situation, but about annual preventative repairs, then in this case the period for turning off hot water should not exceed 14 days. This is directly stated in paragraph 3.1.11 of SanPiN 2.1.4.2496-09 “Hygienic requirements for ensuring the safety of hot water supply systems.”

Thus, we can conclude that the planned preventive shutdowns of hot water, so beloved by our citizens, cannot exceed 14 days

There are only 3 days a year without hot water throughout Russia. Is it possible

Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Public Utilities of the Russian Federation Andrei Chibis said that without spending money from the budget and only thanks to “smart solutions”, Russia has already learned to turn off water as planned for only 3 days a year. “Sensations.No” decided to look where and when this “breakthrough” occurred.

“They promise to turn off hot water only for three days,” News.ru reports, “The Ministry of Construction is working on the timing of water shutdowns,” says TASS, “The Ministry of Construction has found a way to sharply reduce the timing of hot water shutdowns,” complement colleagues from RBC. All these sources of information refer to an interview with Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the Russian Federation Andrei Chibis to the Izvestia newspaper. In order not to be unfounded and not to take words out of context, we provide a full quote from this interview dedicated to turning off the hot water:

– What technologies are planned to be used in housing and communal services? For example, is it possible, through new solutions, to reduce the time it takes to turn off hot water in the summer?
– Yes, work is now underway to introduce smart technologies in housing and communal services. Technologies are being developed related to the optimization of network management processes, switching shut-off valves, shutdown and switching algorithms, which can radically reduce the time it takes to turn off hot water. The utility companies themselves are very interested in this. Everyone is used to turning off hot water for two weeks. But during this time, utility services do not receive payment or revenue for hot water, and people are uncomfortable.
– How much can the shutdown time be reduced?
– Last year we experimented with three cities. So far they have not taken the entire city, but large neighborhoods. There were even situations where it was possible to reduce it to three days. This did not require billions of dollars in investments; a “smart” approach with minimal investments, smart solutions that allow you to save revenue and provide people with comfort, was enough.
"News"

By the way, RIA Novosti supplemented Chibis’s words with a press release from PJSC Moscow United Energy Company (MOEK), which states that they “will study the results of experiments conducted by the Ministry of Construction.” And they added that in Moscow today hot water is not turned off for more than 10 days.

screenshot "Izvestia"

We decided to check the words of Andrei Chibis and look for those cities where the experiment was “successfully carried out” last year. Since the deputy minister himself does not name any settlements or specific microdistricts in an interview, we decided to read the news. Well, such an event couldn’t have been ignored by the local media? We don’t know how representative this sample is, but a news search in Google and Yandex for the queries “water shutdown for 3 days”, “water shutdown time has been reduced”, we were able to find the following:

Penza region, city of Zarechny (population 65,000 people). The water was turned off for 3 days in preparation for the winter heating season... although apparently at least 3 times a year and each time for three days. The first in May and twice in July - at the beginning and at the end.
Krasnodar, the water was turned off for 3 days... in October, due to emergency repair work on the heating main. Before this, in the capital of Kuban, water was turned off as planned in May and for 13-14 days.
In Astrakhan, hot water was turned off for three days in May, and for 2 weeks in September-October.
In Veliky Novgorod, water was turned off for 3 days, although only in a few houses (not microdistricts), in the rest everything was planned for 2 weeks.

Honestly, that's all we could find. So, even if the experiment with “smart solutions” was successful, it was very deeply hidden, for some reason neither the local nor the federal media talked about it. Either such news simply did not get into the aggregators, this can also happen.

Now let's return to the author of the statement, Andrei Chibis. In fact, this is not the first time he has said that in “the future in Russia they will abandon the planned shutdown of hot water.” For example, in May 2018, he said that, as an experiment, hot water would not be turned off at all in two Russian cities. In order to switch to a planned shutdown for only 1 week throughout Russia by 2022.

In September, at the EEF in Vladivostok, he warned that:

“The duration of hot water shutdowns in our country is quite long, but it can be reduced if work is organized correctly, all technological chains are reviewed and duplication of systems is introduced. Regional authorities are already beginning to prepare for this.”
"Construction.ru"

And after that, in October 2021, in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, he again spoke about “the transition to a 3-day hot water shutdown system” and successfully conducted experiments:

— Why is it the 21st century, and hot water is still turned off for two weeks? In Europe, for example, there is no such problem.
— When we compare ourselves with Europe, we need to understand that centralized hot water supply is almost never used there (water is heated, as a rule, by electric water heaters. — Ed.). Perhaps in some Scandinavian countries, where it is relatively cool. But it's still cold here. Therefore, it is necessary to turn off hot water in order to replace networks, decommission boilers, and then go through the winter calmly. And changing a pipe takes a long time. Nevertheless, you are right that the period of preventive maintenance should be reduced. This year we conducted an experiment in several of our cities and reduced this period - in some cases to three days.
- Oh, I mean, we can still do it! Due to what?
— First of all, due to more flexible control, for example, turning off only those areas that need to be turned off. Due to temporary flexible pipelines, which were placed where the pipe needs to be replaced. By switching power from one boiler to another within the same boiler room, rather than simply shutting down the entire boiler room. We tried to implement customer service. Happened. We'll look at it for another year and invite more colleagues to experiment. Of course, it is impossible to quickly make this period three days, but in the next few years it is quite possible to reduce it to seven days.
"TVNZ"

Today, the Moscow region has already begun to doubt the three-day planned shutdown of hot water supply. As TV channel “360” reports with reference to one of the officials of the Moscow region, even in such a rich region they do not always meet the 2-week deadline due to the wear and tear of the networks.

“Sensations.Net” was asked to comment on the statement of Sergei Bystrov, an expert in housing and communal services issues, an engineer and a former official of the relevant committees in the administrations of the Novgorod region and Veliky Novgorod:

“The shutdown of hot water supply occurs for 2 reasons: - repair of the heat source (boiler room) - repair of hot water supply networks. If the first reason is successfully dealt with by looping boiler houses, for example, in the Western region of Veliky Novgorod, when Levoberezhka goes for repairs, and the hot water supply is heated by other boiler houses, which, in normal times, sit in reserve or in central heating points (central heating points) mode. There is nothing that can be done about accidents on hot water supply networks except increasing the cost of materials, using stainless steel, plastic, etc. - that is, increasing the service life of the networks until scheduled replacement.” — Sergei told the correspondent of “Sensations.Net”.

According to him, the “smart solutions” that Chibis talks about can only help to quickly switch heat sources, networks, and so on. But only if multimillion-dollar investments have already been made , that is, this cannot be done without “multi-billion-dollar expenses”, and this cannot be implemented on the existing infrastructure...

RESULT: The deputy minister’s unsubstantiated statement that Russia has successfully conducted experiments to disconnect 3 microdistricts from water for just three days, excuse the tautology, is not confirmed by anything. There is no information about this.

VERDICT: In order to implement the Ministry of Construction's plans, multi-billion dollar investments will still be needed.

If you have information in which city and microdistrict in 2018 the hot water supply was turned off for only 3 days, please write to us via any of our contacts or in the VKontakte group.

Where can I complain about hot water being turned off over time?

In Russia, the main authorities that can effectively and relatively quickly stop violations regarding the timing of hot water shutdowns are the Housing and Communal Services Department of the relevant municipality, the housing inspection and the prosecutor's office. Complaints to these departments can be written in free form, the main thing is that the meaning of your request is clear.

Of course, there is still the possibility of going to court, but this option is not very effective, because court proceedings are not a quick procedure and by the time it is completed, the water supply will have long been resumed

Is there any point in complaining?

Expert opinion

Stanislav Ershov

Qualified lawyer. Ready to answer any of your questions! Ask them right now!

Write to an expert

As practice shows, it does. And the point is not even that the prosecutor’s office or the Housing Inspectorate, if violations are detected, will issue a fine to the head of the management company. Any verification of the legality of a long-term water outage, as a rule, greatly speeds up the process of preventive repairs or elimination of an accident.