[ad_1]
If the procedure were to change, Klaipedos Vanduo would transfer part of the losses currently incurred to honest residents, and part could go to AB Klaipedos Energija. The latter shake off those “gifts”, because then they would have to find ways to manage accounting and water inspection to avoid losses.
Klaipedos Vanduo estimates that, as a supplier of hot water in Klaipeda, it suffers losses of several hundred thousand euros per year.
“We are a socially responsible company that has written off the water losses incurred so far from the profits, but without transferring the losses to the shoulders of the population,” said Gintarė Butkienė, communication manager at Klaipėdos ūdens.
Under the current procedure, in almost all apartment buildings in Klaipėda (99.5%), residents pay for the cold water used to prepare hot water in AB Klaipėdos vanduo and for the thermal energy used to heat the water in AB Klaipėdos energija.
Steal water
It is no secret that the population does not always correctly and honestly declare the readings of water meters, and since ancient times there have been methods in people on how to use the supplied water and not pay for it.
These include a fine stream of water to prevent the meter from spinning and attempts to affect the metering devices by various mechanical means or even installing hidden water supply pipes to bypass the meter.
All this theft and inaccurate accounting results in a difference between the amount of water actually delivered and the amount consumed. Klaipeda residents often consume more than they declare.
In Klaipėda, Klaipėdos Vanduo has to accept this difference (loss) and continues to do so.
Therefore, the company requests a proper choice of the hot water supplier who would pay for the supplied water not according to the readings of the water metering devices installed in the apartments, but according to the readings of the domestic device installed in front of the hot water source. water treatment device. Yes, as required by the laws of the Republic of Lithuania.
Energy does not suffer
Klaipedos Energija does not suffer losses in the hot water supply chain, as they account for the heat they supply according to the introductory meter of the house.
Its readings according to 9 available methodologies chosen by the house manager are divided between water heating, heat circulation tax (“snake” tax) and space heating (during heating season).
Therefore, there is a system in Klaipėda that each house pays differently for a cubic meter of hot water, depending on the chosen calculation methodology and the amount of water “stolen” (incorrectly counted) in the house.
However, the system is not entirely correct, as residents live in apartments in different areas and use different amounts of hot water.
Therefore, apartment buildings, where the application of the proper calculation methodology results in a lower hot water price, are likely to overpay for heating and vice versa, where water is expensive, to pay relatively less for heating and a “coil”.
Klaipėdos Energija ensures that the current procedure ensures a lower hot water price than if the hot water supplier was Klaipedos Energija directly.
I found a way
Klaipedos Vanduo believes that he has found a way and plans to fundamentally change the existing hot water supply system in Klaipeda.
The company takes the position that so far hot water in Klaipeda is supplied to residents of apartment buildings without a contract, so in mid-August a call was sent to the house managers to sign water supply contracts cold.
Gintarė Butkienė, Head of Communications for Klaipėdos ūdens, told Vakarų ekspresas that the company takes the position that apartment building managers or associations have not fully implemented the actions provided for in the Heat Consumption and Supply Rules and have not signed an agreement with Klaipėdos Vandenys on Water supply for hot water.
Failure to do so will be considered an incorrect implementation of the decision to supply hot water.
According to G. Butkienė, Article 35.2 of the Law on Drinking Water Supply and Wastewater Management stipulates that when drinking water is supplied for hot water in the hot water treatment facilities of an apartment building, the place of purchase and sale of drinking water is a drinking water meter device installed in the building before the hot water treatment facilities.
Therefore, hot water should be billed to the drinking water provider according to the readings of the devices installed in front of the water heaters and not according to the readings of the hot water meters installed on the consumer’s floors.
Offer not to react
On Monday, the management of AB Klaipėdos Energija issued a report proposing not to pay attention to the initiatives of Klaipėdos Ūdens.
Klaipedos Energija emphasizes that it has recently received many questions from apartment building communities, managers and residents about the change of hot water supplier in Klaipeda.
However, the company recommends not reacting to these requirements to change the hot water supply method, because the hot water supply system valid in Klaipeda for several decades and its accounting is legal, nothing needs to be changed.
Will the provider change automatically?
However, Klaipėdos Vanduo takes the position that Klaipėdos Energija will automatically become a hot water supplier if the associations or homeowners managers do not enter into the relevant agreements with AB Klaipėdos Vanduo.
G. Butkienė says that since October 2014, the practice established by the court has been in force, if consumers do not properly implement the hot water supply method, the hot water supplier is a heating company.
However, Arūnas Liubinavičius, representative of Klaipėdos Energija, assures that the company does not really plan to issue invoices to consumers with whom it has not signed hot water supply contracts.
“The situation is moving in the direction that the situation should be interpreted in court,” believes A. Liubinavičius.
Administrators in ignorance
Gražvydas Kasmauskis, president of DNSB Vakarai, says that he is currently examining the information received from Klaipėdos ūdens.
“Two variants are proposed, the articles of the Civil Code are written, I am sitting and examining them,” G. Kasmauskis told the Western Express. He says that he communicates with other presidents, not everyone understands what is happening.
“The municipality could invite everyone to a room and explain”, thinks G. Kasmauskis. However, he already sees a threat, because if the order were changed, new treaties were signed, then the approval of the majority of the population would be required.
“Neighborhood meetings should be called, in conditions of a pandemic, I have no idea how it should be implemented,” says G. Kasmauskis, who manages several apartment buildings in the southern part of Klaipėda.
The situation is also monitored by the Mano Būstas company, which manages the apartment buildings, but while there are discussions and there is no clarity, the company does not comment on the situation.
Will try not to change the order
Gintaras Neniškis, director of the Klaipėda municipal administration, told Vakarų ekspres that, according to preliminary data, both the current payment procedure and the proposed variants of Klaipėdos ūdens are legal and possible.
“There are many components: both the theft of water, the maintenance of metering devices and the costs of service, it is necessary to sit down, talk, look, listen to the arguments of all parties”, G. Neniškis does not draw hasty conclusions. According to him, it is necessary to find a solution that satisfies all parties.
“The aim is to ensure, as far as possible, that the current procedure does not change, because it has been applied for many years and everyone is used to it”, says G. Neniškis.
The municipality is starting work meetings on this issue just this week. This problem is also included in the workplace of the Urban Economy Commission.
Arūnas Barbšys, Deputy Mayor of Klaipėda, also believes that the procedure currently in force in Klaipėda is legal, as well as the proposed variant of Klaipėda Water.
According to the interlocutors interviewed by Vakaru Ekspress, Kaunas has a mixed hot water supply system, when this service is provided by water and heating providers. The situation in Vilnius is that a heating provider sells hot water to residents of apartment buildings.
A host
It is interesting that the disagreements over the hot water supply between the two companies run by the City Council, Klaipedos Vanduo and Klaipedos Energija, started almost two decades ago.
It is said that due to these disagreements, a heated dispute broke out in 2002-2003, this time Jurgis Nausėda, the then head of Klaipėda Water, left his post.
“I will not mention the exact time or the names, but there was definitely a situation where I called the managers of Klaipedos Energija and Klaipedos Water and told them that if they did not agree, to go to court and find out, but who loses He will. I have to leave the manager position. “- Rimantas Taraškevičius, the then mayor of the city, remembers the old story.
He believes that companies that have a co-host, the city, simply must find an acceptable solution.
However, although discussions in the municipality on this issue are only just beginning, Klaipėdos Vanduo has already established a schedule for apartment building managers, at which point specific associations or managers must complete the contract signing procedures.
The schedule is published on the company page. The first house managers were urged to do so beginning September 1 and the last ones at the end of the year.
Although Klaipedos Energija’s arguments once prevailed in the port city, today it seems that both Klaipedos Vanduo and Klaipedos Energija feel that the truth is on their side.
All even salute the decisions of the courts in their favor. The aim of the city government in this disagreement is to make the consumers, the residents of Klaipėda, suffer as little as possible.
