Shutting off electricity for non-payment: right, legality of actions and grounds.

Causes of power outage

The reason for limiting the energy supply may be a network failure or debt for consumed energy. In the event of an emergency shutdown, supply is restored upon completion of repair work, after a certain amount of time.

Connecting the light, if there is a debt, occurs after the situation is resolved and most likely in this case the supply of resources is limited for a long time. The reasons for a power outage may be the following:

Failure to pay for consumed energy within more than two months.
Unauthorized connection to existing networks.
Theft of electricity by residents was discovered.

Each of the reasons has its own execution algorithm and requires compliance with the law in the actions of service providers.

Restoring power supply

In order for electricity to begin flowing into the debtor’s apartment again, you will have to pay all debts, penalties, and also reimburse the expenses of the RO or management company for sealing the equipment responsible for supplying energy to the person who has not paid utility bills.

How does the light turn off for non-payment according to the law?

The relationship between residents and the service provider is based on a contractual principle, where in addition to the rights of the parties, responsibilities are also prescribed. The consumer's primary responsibility is to pay on time. In turn, suppliers reserve the right to perform actions to disconnect electricity. The existing procedure is enshrined in Resolution No. 442[1]. It consists of the following:

the debtor is sent a notice of non-payment with an offer to repay it voluntarily. Also, the resulting amount must be indicated in the monthly invoice for payment. The notice provides 20 days to pay the debt;
in the event of no payment, after the specified period, the power engineers are obliged to issue a warning against the tenant’s signature that within three days the supply of electricity will be limited;
The third stage of work consists of partially de-energizing the apartment from the networks. But only if there is a technical possibility for this. In its absence, the supply of electricity is completely interrupted to the entire home.

All work is aimed at interaction with the tenant and cutting off power to the home without warning is unacceptable. Such actions may be regarded as arbitrariness of the energy supply company.

Power outage process

The procedure for turning off lights for non-payment goes through several stages.

It is unlawful to deprive a citizen of this service if the housing and utility company did not comply with the following rules:

detection of systematic debt on utility payments for 2 calendar months;
notification to the owner of a subsequent power outage if the debt remains with him. An official document indicating the action taken must be provided. Documents are signed personally by the owner of the apartment;
within a month after receiving the notification, the citizen is obliged to repay the debt;
sending repeated notification of power outage;
in case of inaction of the citizen for the second time, the housing and communal services have every right to refuse to provide this service to this person until the entire amount is paid in full.

A statement of claim is drawn up by the electricity supplier, after which the user's meters are sealed.

Drawing up a power outage act

After the tenant ignores two notifications from the supplier, the housing and communal services have the right to draw up an act to stop the supply of electricity.

It should include the following provisions:

surname, name, patronymic of the debtor;
the address at which the shutdown will take place;
readings taken from electricity meters;
a detailed description of the procedure for turning off the lights;
the number of the meter that was sealed;
date and time of power outage;
justification of the actions taken in the apartment from the legislative side;
period of blackout of an apartment or living space.

This document must be signed by the specialist and the debtor in triplicate. One remains with the debtor, the other with the specialist, and the third belongs to the management company.

A sample act looks like this:

FULL NAME. consumer

address

NOTIFICATION

About debt under an energy supply contract

(payment for provided utilities)

I am informing you that you have violated the terms of the energy supply contract No.______ dated _______ regarding compliance with payment deadlines. As of ____________, the debt for the period __________________________________ is ________________ rubles. (VAT included).

In this regard, you need to take measures to pay off the debt before ________20__. If the debt is not repaid within the specified period, the supply of electricity to you may be suspended or limited.

_________________(_________________) ___ ___________ _____

Director of ESO Date

Notification of debt under an energy supply contract

Turning off the lights for non-payment to SNT

The gardening non-profit partnership has every right to turn off the electricity supply. But this right is exercised only if the citizen does not pay membership fees on time . Then SNT has the right to stop power supply to this person’s site.

You can restore your rights to receive electricity: you must pay all membership fees and debts. After all debts have been repaid, the chairman of the gardening non-profit partnership can restore the power supply.

What to do if the power is turned off for non-payment

If the resource is still disconnected, the consumer is under no circumstances recommended to independently connect the light. These actions are regarded as theft of energy and are subject to penalties for the offending citizen.

Depending on the actions of the resident and the supplier that preceded the disconnection, there are several options for the development of events.

Option 1

The energy workers turned off the lights in the apartment and all their actions were carried out in accordance with the rules for turning off the power. In this case, the behavior of the defaulter is as follows:

Contact the energy supply company with an application for debt restructuring. If there are individual reasons not to pay, which confirm the person’s low solvency, it is necessary to provide documentary evidence of them. If the tenant’s case of installment payments is isolated, then the management of the energy company will make concessions. Moreover, the possibility of debt restructuring is enshrined in the Housing Code of the Russian Federation[2].
After concluding a debt restructuring agreement, the tenant must pay for the reconnection of electricity in his apartment.
After all outstanding payments have been made, the power supply in the apartment will be restored.

Option 2

Service providers have disconnected the supply of the resource without notice. In this case, the consumer has the right to take the following steps:

record the fact of disconnection of electricity from your apartment. This can be done by drawing up an act with the involvement of neighbors as witnesses. The apartment is disconnected from power supply and power engineers in public areas, with the installation of a disconnect seal. You can take a photo or video of the disconnection site;
draw up an application to the housing and communal services energy company to connect the resource, indicating the illegality of their actions. Sometimes providing evidence has its own actions and the light is turned on. Citizens do not need to pay for connection. In most cases, disconnection based on such an illegal principle indicates that the company is not a supporter of compliance with the law and will achieve a resolution of the issue in its favor using certain methods;
file an application to the court. It is important to understand that the consideration of the claim will take place upon full repayment of the debt at the time of filing the claim. Evidence of moral and material harm may be included in the court application.

But you should call first and find out the true reasons for the shutdown.

Restoring electricity supply

General issues of energy supply under an energy supply agreement are regulated by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
This regulatory act says that it is possible to limit or completely stop the supply of energy for non-payment, but only with prior warning and in relation to subscribers - legal entities (Part 2 of Article 546 of the Civil Code). It turns out that the resource supply organization (RO) cannot influence defaulting citizens in such a radical way. They directly regulate the ability of the contractor to provide services for the supply of electricity (this can be not only the RO, but also the management company (MC) of the apartment building, which is an intermediary between the residents of the building and the RO). These documents contain information about in which cases a restriction or complete cessation of electricity supply is applied when an individual is in arrears in payment.

Resolution No. 354 does not say what specific amount of debt will entail a consumer's power outage. The concept of “incomplete payment of utility services” appears there.

Incomplete payment of utility services - a debt to pay for electricity for a period exceeding 2 months. Moreover, the amount of payment for electricity per month in this case is calculated according to electricity consumption standards, which are established separately for each region of Russia annually.

The presence of metering devices does not affect the procedure for calculating the amount of debt. Let's try to calculate at what amount of debt the executor can limit or stop supplying an apartment with electricity in Moscow in 2021 for a family of three. The calculation shows data without taking into account the accrual of penalties.

Number of residents in the apartment x Regional standard for electricity consumption x Tariff for 1 kW/h (also set by the region) x 2 (months in which they did not pay).

The consumption standard per person in a house with an electric stove in Moscow is 80 kW (50 kW if there is a gas stove). The tariff for 1 kW/h is 3.89 rubles. Amount of debt for Moscow = 3 x 80 kW x 3.89 x 2 = 1867.2 rubles.

The consumption standard is usually set by the regional executive body (Government), and tariffs can be easily found on the official website of your city's Energosbyt.

In practice, resource providers are more loyal and try for a long time and patiently to “reason” with the consumer to pay the debt and start paying regularly. This can last for years. A willful defaulter will use electricity for free, despite the fact that the amount of his debt can reach five figures and even six figures.

If the resource has already been cut off to you, you can resume its provision with the same supplier with whom the contract for the supply of electricity was signed. To recover, you must pay off the debt in full. But there is an exception.

In the event that you cannot pay the entire amount of the debt, and there are good reasons for this, you need to submit an official statement to the organization that disconnected your service. In this application, you should justify all your circumstances, attaching documents confirming their accuracy.

A compromise is possible if the organization allows you to pay off the debt in installments, according to the established schedule. Often such installments are given for six months. But it is important to take into account that you will have to pay the entire amount, taking into account penalties and other fines.

In this case, a certain individually agreed upon amount is paid, the electricity is connected back, and the rest of the debt will need to be repaid according to the schedule. Electricity meters will be sealed at the time of power outage, so you cannot do without an electrician or other similar specialist and drawing up a report. If you manipulate the filling yourself, you will be fined, even if you have already repaid the debt.

To connect the electricity back, you must contact the same organization that turned it off for you, having the legal right to do so. If it is an energy sales company, a management company, a homeowners association, that is where you need to come. If you are unsure who exactly is responsible, whether this or that body has the ability to turn off the light for you, you should keep a copy of the shutdown act.

Government Decree No. 354, as amended on September 9, 2017, determines that the connection period cannot exceed more than two calendar days from the date of debt repayment. This rule applies to all management organizations, including homeowners' associations. It was discussed earlier whether the HOA itself can make an independent decision to turn off electricity for non-payment - this is within their competence.

When the procedure for disconnecting the supplied electricity due to your non-payment was carried out legally, in compliance with all the rules, there is also a certain procedure for connection. After you pay off the debt, with a receipt in hand you need to go to the management company or other organization, which in your case has the right to turn off your electricity.

Having thus confirmed that you are no longer in default on payment, you will be given a time when a specialist will come to connect the light. Since your resource was cut off due to your fault, all associated costs for connecting it are also borne by you. Depending on the region, the cost of such services ranges from 900 to 1,700 rubles.

Is it legal to independently connect electricity if the non-payment has been repaid? The answer is clear - no. This should be done by the same organization that is responsible for the shutdown. Despite the fact that sometimes its employees can give you the “green light” to remove the seals yourself, there is a fine for doing this.

Administrative punishment also awaits those who unauthorizedly connect to electricity, without repaying the debt and ignoring electricity meters. Such violations of the rules include:

Facts of the use of light bypassing metering devices due to shutdown;
Intentional distortions of meter readings;
Late reporting of equipment damage and malfunctions.

In other words, you will have to bear responsibility for unaccounted consumption of the resource. Energy company employees check regularly, so don't expect to get away with something like this.

The fine for unauthorized connection is 2,000 rubles. Persons equated to officials, found in a similar violation, pay from 3,000 to 4,000 rubles, and for legal entities the amount is tens of times higher.

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It is established by law that if a debt arises for the previous 2 billing periods, that is, months, the resource provider has the right to carry out a disconnection procedure. However, it must be executed in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Therefore, if a consumer has a debt on utility bills for two months, then Mosenergosbyt will first notify about the upcoming power outage, and 20 days after delivery of the notification will stop supplying electricity.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with: Sample of a collective claim to the ventilation regulations

Please note that the act must include the following information:

Date and time of the shutdown procedure.
Personal data of the consumer and address of the facility.
The latest readings taken from the meter, as well as its serial or serial number and brand.
Grounds for disconnection.
Method of stopping the supply of electricity.
Details of the employee who carried out the sealing.

Do they have the right to turn off the lights for non-payment?

Management companies or energy service providers interacting directly with consumers have all legal rights to disconnect electricity without a court decision in the following cases:

The fact that there are debts for the service provided is confirmed and amounts to 2 or more months.
All measures for the peaceful resolution of the issue by the service provider have been completed.
The debtor does not voluntarily fulfill his payment obligations.

An exception is the disconnection of a resource in SNT, the grounds for which are necessarily specified in the Charter of this organization, agreed upon at a general meeting of members of the partnership.

Disconnection of electricity is accompanied by the preparation of a mandatory disconnection act. There is no standard form for the act, but it must contain a set of information that is recommended by law. These include:

type of disconnection;
personal data of the debtor, his personal account;
a complete list of activities carried out by energy workers that preceded the shutdown for debt;
information about the meter with recording of the latest readings;
as a conclusion - the reason for the disconnection and the conditions for restoring power supply.

The act is drawn up in triplicate and signed by representatives of energy workers and the consumer.

For what debt can the lights be turned off?

None of the legislative standards contains a definition of debt in digital terms. This is due to the fact that the amount of accruals varies by region. The tariff is calculated individually for each company. However, you should not accumulate debt and it is better to immediately check the debt and pay it off.

The terms of electricity supply also differ, which affects the amount charged to the consumer. At the same time, it is legal to turn off the electricity only for debt on the consumed resource; non-payment of rent does not serve as a basis for cutting off the apartment from the network.

The general criterion is the lack of payment for two or more current months. In the absence of electrical appliance readings, consumption is calculated in the first month - based on the average figure. Subsequently - according to the existing consumption standard from the records of all persons registered in the housing. Such data usually exceeds actual consumption. Therefore, the transfer of testimony is always in the interests of residents.

There are no general exceptions to the issue of cutting off consumers from networks. Energy workers can take advantage of their privileges both in winter and if there is a small child in the apartment.

Compliance with the rules helps citizens avoid unpleasant moments and additional costs. But in case of abuse of power by utility organizations, you need to clearly know that you can fight for your rights. The legislation was developed taking into account the interests of both parties.

When is the planned shutdown at Mosenergosbyt?

In addition to stopping the supply of electricity based on accumulated debts, Mosenergosbyt may carry out planned outages. In this case, consumers are notified 10 days before the work is carried out by posting information on bulletin boards in entrances, in their personal accounts, or in another way.

Planned power outages are carried out during repair and emergency work. In the latter case, the situation may be unforeseen, so companies cannot inform about the outage in advance. The timing of such work depends on the time the accident is eliminated.

If you have encountered a power outage situation due to the formation of a debt and used one of the methods of reconnection at Mosenergosbyt, then we ask you to share your experience. Your opinion is very important for the specialists of the energy sales company, since on its basis it is possible to improve the service. And also other consumers can learn more fully about the possibility of resuming the supply of electricity to their home.