How to reduce the risk of using gas at home

Turning off the gas in an apartment at the initiative of its owner can be either permanent or temporary.

For example, a homeowner wants to replace an old gas stove with a new electric one. Then he definitely doesn't need gas.

Or he wants to temporarily cut off the gas supply to his apartment while he is not at home; or he intends to make a major overhaul with a complete redevelopment of the kitchen, etc.

If the need to stop the supply of blue fuel still arises, you need to figure out how to turn off the gas in the apartment where you need to go in 2021.

Conditions for refusing gas consumption in an apartment

The apartment owner can terminate the gas supply agreement unilaterally if the following conditions are met:

• debt for gas consumption must be repaid, the consumer must not have debts to the resource supply company;
• the consumer must pay all costs associated with the work to disconnect indoor gas equipment from the gas network;
• The organization that carried out the shutdown of blue fuel must issue the consumer a gas shutoff certificate.

Gas shutdown without warning

An exhaustive list of cases when the supply of natural gas can be carried out without warning subscribers is provided for in paragraphs 77, 78 of the Rules, approved. Resolution No. 410. These include:

• detection of factors indicating the threat of an accident, leak or accident;
• installation work with gas distribution systems in which the statutory requirements are not met;
• non-compliance of intra-house or intra-apartment equipment with regulatory requirements identified as a result of the inspection;
• unauthorized re-equipment of internal gas supply systems, re-equipment of chimneys and ventilation;
• ignoring instructions to eliminate violations.

For any other reasons, gas can be turned off only after twice written notification to subscribers: the first is sent 40, the second – 20 days before the planned sealing.

How to turn off the gas?

If the owner wants to stop the gas supply to his apartment because he intends to install an electric stove, then the shutdown procedure will not be easy.

Below is the procedure for turning off the gas in order to switch to an electric stove:

1. If the owner wants to replace the gas stove with an electric one, and in addition move the stove to another location, then we are also talking about redevelopment. Therefore, the first thing he needs to do is go to the BTI and order a technical passport for the apartment.
2. Contact a design company that will make a kitchen refurbishment project and document all the changes.
3. Contact the management company and agree with it on the procedure for turning off the gas in the apartment.
4. Submit an application for refurbishment of an apartment to the local municipality or the MFC. You need to have the following documents with you: application for redevelopment, registration certificate for housing, project, civil passport of the apartment owner, title documents for the apartment.
5. If the project is approved, then you can contact gas service specialists to shut off the gas supply. Doing this on your own is strictly prohibited, otherwise the culprit will face penalties. You need to go to the gas service with all the collected documents. On site you will need to write a statement, which must be signed by the chief engineer. On the same day, the applicant will be put in a queue for disconnection (there are a lot of applications, so you often have to wait for weeks), and on the appointed day a specialist will come and carry out the disconnection.
6. Gas service specialists must install a plug in the tap on the thread, seal it, and issue the owner of the apartment with an act to turn off the blue fuel.
7. After receiving the work completion certificate, the owner must contact the local municipality and report that the gas in the apartment has been turned off. A specialist from the commission must visit the site and check the correctness of the work performed. If everything is in order, the owner of the apartment will be issued a certificate. The owner needs to contact Rosreestr to make changes.
8. The owner should contact the gas service and provide a certificate of work performed. Terminate the contract for the provision of services on the spot.

Procedure

There is a standard procedure for turning off the gas (with the exception of emergency situations, when this is done quickly and without warning):

• The subscriber must receive a notification letter 20 days before the technicians arrive, which will indicate the reason for the resource blockage and the date. By law, even two such notices must be sent, but sometimes consumers do not receive any.
• After receiving the letter, you need to pay the debts, the accrued penalty (if any), and immediately notify the gas service about this.
• When the notification is carried out according to the rules, and the subscriber still does not respond, gas workers have the right to go to the address and disconnect.
• The most popular way to disconnect is to seal the gas meter. After this, the consumer has no right to open the gas in the apartment, this is a serious offense.
• A plug can be installed to prevent gas from entering the apartment.
• And only in extreme cases do gas workers cut the pipe. This is a radical method; it is used only when the owner of the apartment does not allow the craftsmen inside and does not pay for supplies for a long time.

Those who consider closed doors to be a reliable obstacle to disconnecting a resource should remember that they will have to restore the connection to the system at their own expense, and the work will not be cheap.

ATTENTION! If you have a large debt for gas, you should not hide; the gas company will not take long to resolve the issue with the shutoff. It is recommended to contact the supplier with a request to arrange an installment plan for the debt. But this must be done before notification of the termination of supplies arrives.

How to write an application?

A sample application for gas shutdown is usually provided by the gas service. The document itself is simple to fill out; just enter the following information:

• name of the addressee - the one to whom the applicant is writing the application. Usually this information is already included on the form;
• applicant’s details – full name, full address of his residence;
• Title of the document;
• a text part with a request to turn off the gas at a specific address; indicate the reason for the shutdown (permanent or temporary). The reason must be real, that is, if the owner does not plan to use gas because he will install an electric stove, then this must be indicated in the application;
• date, signature of the applicant.

How gas is turned off for non-payment in an apartment, rules

As already written above, if the owner has not paid for gas for 2 months, or a debt has accumulated equal to the amount for 2 calculated indicators, then the contractor has the right to turn off the supply of the resource.

Notice of disconnection is sent 20 days in advance. Delivery methods:

• bring it personally to the owner;
• send by registered mail;
• send SMS, e-mail.

Please note that if the notification was simply thrown into your mailbox, and you were going on vacation at that time, then the disconnection is considered illegal. Because you didn't even know about him.

The owner is usually notified twice about a shutdown due to a violation of safety rules (inspectors cannot enter the apartment; faulty stoves are used) - 40 and 20 days before this event.

They can also warn you 3 days before the shutdown.

But notification is a must!

Termination of resource supply can be done in two ways:

1. If it is possible to enter the apartment, then the gas equipment is sealed. Special plugs are also installed along the riser to make it impossible to turn on the gas independently.
2. If there is no access to the apartment, then the part of the pipe that runs to the defaulter’s premises is disconnected.

There is no particular difference between the shutdown procedure in an apartment building and in a private house. There are only purely technical details in the shutdown methods.

In dormitories, the gas is turned off only if it is connected to a separate room. If it is available in a common kitchen, then it cannot be turned off.

Please note that it is prohibited under any circumstances to turn off the gas in winter with gas heating.

Price issue

The cost of turning off the gas in an apartment at the initiative of the owner depends on the region of residence . You can find out the exact price at the gas service department, where the subscriber will apply to suspend the contract for the provision of services.

The blue fuel supplier charges a fee for the crew's visit, as well as for cutting the pipe.

The homeowner has the right to turn off the gas in the apartment unilaterally . But to do this, he must notify the management company, and also contact the gas service with an application to suspend gas supply and terminate the contract for the provision of services.

Turned on the valve

Among them there is such a condition - the refusal of the owner of the premises to allow a specialized gas service to carry out maintenance work two or more times. This is one of the pressing problems that makes it difficult to ensure the safety of residents in gasified houses. The presence of dangerous conditions, which in such a situation can provoke accidents, is quite enough to turn off the gas in the apartment, explains Igor Kokin, an expert at the Scientific and Educational Center for Federal and Regional Programs of the Higher School of Public Administration at RANEPA. “If there is such an opportunity,” he clarifies. In Russia, not all houses have the ability to turn off gas door-to-door. “And if not, then the whole house will be cut off from gas. And there have already been such cases,” says Kokin.

It is also planned to add to the hazardous conditions the end of the standard service life of gas equipment or its reconstruction.

So there will be more reasons to cut off the gas supply, as well as the confidence of residents of gasified houses in their own safety.

In addition, the document developed by the Ministry of Construction introduces the rule “one house - one organization servicing gas equipment.” This will help put things in order with repairs and inspections of gas equipment inside apartments.

The document introduces a new procedure for the maintenance of intra-house and intra-apartment gas equipment in an apartment building. An agreement must be concluded with a specialized organization under which it will be obliged to provide equipment maintenance services.

This list includes work on replacing stoves, water heaters, heating boilers and flexible connections to them. The list will also be supplemented by work on cleaning ventilation and smoke ducts. Their malfunction can lead to an increase in gas concentration in the air and cause poisoning of people or even a gas explosion.

The document stipulates that after localizing accidents, gas distribution organizations must conduct inspections and draw up defect reports on the need for routine or major repairs of equipment.

The list will also include diagnostic work. Previously, one organization was engaged in servicing gas equipment, and the management company (MC) or the owners' partnership (HOA) ordered its diagnostics from another. As a result, I had to pay for it separately. Now all work will be included in the cost of maintaining the house. However, Igor Kokin notes that the costs of owners may increase because of this. After all, diagnostics for management companies and homeowners associations were ordered from those companies that charge less money. Now this opportunity will not exist.

The document also contains measures to curb prices. It is proposed that the Federal Antimonopoly Service be given the authority to approve guidelines that will help calculate the cost of services. However, experts are confident that establishing a “ceiling” of tariffs or direct government regulation would make it possible to more effectively limit those who inflate prices.

The document also addresses the issue of the cost of emergency dispatch services provided by gas distribution organizations. These costs will be included in the tariff for gas transportation services through gas distribution networks.

The proposed changes will require advanced training for employees of specialized organizations. Employees of such companies will be required to undergo an independent qualification assessment.

The authorities were forced to pay attention to the problem of the safety of gasified houses after the tragedy in Magnitogorsk on December 31, 2021, in which 39 people died due to a gas explosion and the collapse of one of the entrances to the house.

After this, the Ministry of Construction decided to equip all new buildings with gas sensors from the summer of 2021. The State Duma also proposed to include the installation of gas analyzers as part of the overhaul.

What to do

When signing an agreement with a gas supplier, it is worth finding out how they are disconnected for non-payment and what period of time is given for repaying the debt. This information can help you assert your rights. If the subscriber is disconnected not in an emergency (due to a leak, damage to the pipeline, network), he must be notified of such action by the gas workers.

IMPORTANT! Disabling without notice is considered illegal.

According to Article 46 of the Government Decree “On the Procedure for Gas Supply...” a written warning is sent to the owner of the apartment in which the shutdown will occur, with notification of delivery.

The consumer must receive such a letter and sign for delivery no later than 20 days before the event. But the gas service, unfortunately, does not always comply with this point of the Government Decree and rushes to turn off the gas and punish the subscriber even without warning. What can you encounter in reality?

• The notification may reach the consumer in a timely manner.
• It may simply be sent to an address without determining whether the recipient received it or not.
• Sometimes the gas service does not even issue a letter warning about the shutdown.