Without Heat Meters, Deception of Population and State Inevitable

Since Soviet times, the heating season in Baku has lasted from November 15 to April 15. This year, going to meet the wishes of Baku residents and publications in the press, the executive branch of Baku ordered to turn on central heating two days earlier - on November 13.

An article was published in Turan about the need to revise the Soviet standards, which made Baku residents freeze in apartments, waiting for the official opening of the heating season (the article is called Azeristiliktejhizat Believes Heat Should Be Supplied No Earlier than November 15).

http://www.contact.az/ext/news/2018/11/free/Social/ru/76432.htm

On November 13-14, the heating batteries in the apartments were half as warm, but the Baku residents hoped that with the onset of the officially recognized heating season, the system would work at full capacity. On November 15-16 in house No. 6 in Narimanov Street (Yasamal district of Baku) heat in one-room apartments was served so little that the residents continued to use electric heaters. In two-three-room apartments, half the batteries did not warm up at all, remaining cold.

Residents went out into the yard and called the worker of the 14th precinct of Azeristiliktejhizat Production Association (PA), Arif. He initially offered residents to look for closed valves in their apartments and advised to "make respect" to the heater workers so that they let the air out of the batteries. Then he assured that all heating units in the boiler house were working at full capacity, and the water had not reached the maximum temperature because the system had been recently launched. And when the residents told him that only two of the exhaust pipes of the boiler house were producing smoke, while there were six heating devices and, accordingly, six pipes in the building of the boiler house, the worker admitted not using all the power of the boiler room intentionally. As the air temperature decreases, other heating devices will be launched in the boiler room, the Azeristiliktejhizat PA"s worker said.

The objection of a resident that heat was supplied defectively, the apartments had to be heated with electrical appliances, and the residents would have to pay for heating at a single rate, although the batteries in the apartment were cold, was ignored by the Azeristiliktejhizat worker.

The conflict of residents of the fifth house in Narimanov Street with Azeristiliktejhizat PA showed the failure of the practice of this municipal organization. Regardless of the number of rooms, the area of ​​the apartment and the temperature supplied to the technical water batteries, all apartment owners pay the same amount. By the 467th decision of the Cabinet of Ministers dated November 18, 2016, it was determined that from November 1, 2017, the heat supply tariff was included in the list of prices determined by the state that appointed 1.92 manat per cubic meter of hot water for the population and 3.10 manat per cubic meter for other consumers . Previously, the population paid 0.40 manat per cubic meter of hot water. With the growth of payment more than four times the quality of heating for the population has not improved.

In the established tariff, the only measure of measurement is cubic meter of hot water. At the same time, there is not a word about the temperature of the water and the number of cubic meters consumed by the apartment. Even if the PA accepted the standards based on the temperature and quantity of industrial water used by the consumer, the calculation of these parameters would be impossible, since in Azerbaijan water meters for heating in apartments are not installed. Therefore, consumers pay a fixed price for the entire heating season, even if in their apartment it was as cold as it was outside all winter. Wishing to go to court to cancel payment for heating, which was not really available, the plaintiff will not be able to show the judge instrumental proofs of the poor performance of Azeristiliktejhizat.

The website of this organization http://azeristilik.gov.az/index.php?page=sp&n=14 only reports on the successful work with tables showing the number of heating systems installed for each year. There are no reports on the temperature or the amount of heating water supplied to houses (kindergartens and other social facilities, economic facilities) on the website of the state department.

The absence of meters for the consumed heating water in apartments creates grounds to deceive not only the residents, as it was with the residents of the building at 5 Narimanov Street on November 15, but also the state by Azeristiliktejhizat PA. Residents cannot prove the absence or lack of heat in their apartments, and the PA can deceive the state by reporting about the full heat supply of residential buildings and public spaces.

In the world, however, individual accounting of heat consumed by the population is applied. In Russia, utilities bill for heat at uniform tariffs as in Azerbaijan, but if a consumer installs a heating meter, he pays for the actual heat received and can save, for example, not to pay for the time when he did not live in the apartment and therefore closed the heating valves. "Consumers should know that the heat meter does not save heat, but it allows you to pay for the actual energy consumed, and not according to the approximate calculations obtained as a result of the theoretical development of government standards. "Individual heat meters save a significant amount of money for heating services, up to 60%," says https://teplospec.com/tsentralnoe-otoplenie/teplovye-schetchiki-na-otoplenie-ekonomno-i-vygodno.html.

In Azeristiliktejhizat PA, the intention to introduce individual meters of consumed heat is not mentioned, while the government does not even have proposals to create an individual metering of heat consumption. In the country, according to the PA, in 2017, there were 545 boiler houses heating 3,700 houses, 275 schools, 155 kindergartens, 150 healthcare facilities and 750 other facilities. None has a heat meter. Without the installation of these devices, in general, without reforming the heat supply system in Azerbaijan, the practice of appropriating funds and deceiving the population will remain the norm.