Power outages in SNT: are there legal grounds?

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Does the SNT board have the right to turn off electricity to members for debts?

Since 2021, amendments to the “Rules for complete or partial restrictions on the consumption of electrical energy” have come into force. This regulatory act establishes the basis for the relationship between the management organization and the consumer related to power outages.

Important! According to the new rules, SNT has the right to cut off power to a garden plot if the subscriber has not only arrears in paying for electricity, but also in arrears in paying membership fees. This is possible if the contribution includes payment for electricity for the general needs of the community and compensation for energy losses.

How to register country houses in SNT?

What will happen to an illegal connection to electricity, read here.

How to arrange an individual payment for electricity in SNT, read the link:

What are losses in SNT networks and how can they be reduced?

– The whole problem is that SNT is obliged (under the energy supply contract) to pay not only for the consumed electrical energy, but also for the technological losses of electricity that occur in SNT networks and are not taken into account by the calculated meter. The amount of technological losses is indicated in the energy supply contract and, as a rule, consists of two parts: constant and variable. In addition, in low-voltage SNT networks, losses also occur when transmitting electricity from the transformer to the consumer.

Does the chairman of the SNT have the right to turn off the gardener’s electricity?

• The consumer (gardener) refuses to pay for electricity - he is a defaulter.
• A member of the SNT does not allow the chairman, electrician or other people to take readings to his metering device. There are cases when the owner rushes with an ax or shovel at the inspectors and motivates by the fact that his plot is privatized and it is his property.
• The consumer, a member of SNT, has low meter readings and the chairman has suspicions of electricity theft.

In new homes, you can limit the supply of electricity remotely, using special equipment.2. Settlements with organizations supplying heat and electricity, water, gas, and wastewater disposal on the basis of agreements concluded with these organizations.

Procedure for turning off electricity for non-payment

SNT has the right to disconnect the consumer from electricity if there is a debt in the amount of two standards. Please note that regulations vary by region. Their size needs to be clarified.

After the formation of a debt, SNT is obliged to notify the consumer of the need to pay a fee, otherwise the garden plot will be de-energized.

In 2021, new notification rules came into effect, making the procedure for management organizations and SNTs easier. There is no longer a need to obtain the consumer's personal signature on the notice. It can be sent via email or through your personal account in a special GIS housing and communal services system.

Attention! Our qualified lawyers will assist you free of charge and around the clock on any issues. Find out more here.

Recommendations to governing bodies.

5. As you can see, at present, the position of the courts in disputes between citizens and gardening partnerships about the legality of turning off electricity to citizens as a measure of influence is generally unambiguous - it cannot be turned off, even if the citizen lives at the expense of conscientious citizens, owes mandatory contributions to the partnership, and does not pay for the consumed electricity over the years or in general, consumes electricity past the meter. At the same time, it is interesting that, for example, a gardening association can turn off the electricity in the gardening association to all members in the winter, quite legally. At least the courts don't object.

Legal recommendations to the governing bodies of gardening partnerships on resolving the issue of “defaulters”, based on the above and established judicial practice.

Accordingly, the conclusions of the courts that “the owners or other legal owners of electrical grid facilities through which the consumer’s power receiving device is indirectly connected to the electrical networks of the grid organization do not have the right to prevent the flow of energy through their facilities for such a consumer and demand payment for this”, do not based on law.

A tariff is a single indicator when paying for a service, valid within a subject of the Federation. The tariff is set by a competent organization (in this case, the electricity supplier) and cannot be changed by individuals/legal entities. If such actions are detected on the part of the partnership administration, the owners and tenants of summer cottages have legal grounds to file a complaint with the prosecutor's office.

How should the subscriber be notified?

The main factor for the correct implementation of the de-energization procedure is sending a notification. Changes to the law in 2021 have expanded the options for proper notice.

SNT can send a letter of claim in the following ways:

• personal transfer of the subscriber with receipt of a receipt;
• mailing by registered mail with notification;
• placing a notice on the payment receipt form;
• telephone conversation with a subscriber recorded on electronic media;
• sending a letter by email;
• sending a notification through the consumer’s personal account in the GIS housing and communal services system;
• others.

From the moment the claim is received, the payer is given a twenty-day period to repay the debt.

Who can turn off the lights in the country house?

Until 2021, the threats of the SNT management to turn off the electricity to debtors remained only threats. If this happened, it was a violation of the law, qualified as arbitrariness and challenged in court. As a rule, one application to the district Prosecutor's Office was enough for the SNT chairman to compromise.

Only energy sales or power grid companies were considered electricity suppliers, and only they could make decisions about connecting or disconnecting a subscriber for unpaid bills. The tasks of the SNT board included only mediation.

Two years ago, the situation changed - Resolution No. 1351 was signed “On amendments to certain acts of the Government of the Russian Federation on issues of increasing the accessibility of energy infrastructure in relation to certain consumer groups.” Now SNT has received the status of “sub-executor” and the right to turn off electricity in case of non-payment of bills.

What penalties can be imposed on violators?

The new rules do not establish a specific amount of debt, after the accumulation of which it is possible to limit and suspend the supply of the resource. The legislator is limited to only two standards.

Please note! If SNT commits violations in the disconnection procedure, then it is subject to administrative punishment in the form of a fine:

• for officials – from 10,000 to 100,000 rubles;
• for legal entities – from 100,000 to 200,000 rubles.

Who has the right to cut off the debtor's electricity?

Despite the fact that the SNT management regulates all matters within the cooperative, including overdue payments and debts, according to clause 6 of the RF PP No. 861, such persons do not have the official authority to actually prevent the flow of electricity to the owner’s plot with whom the conflict occurred. The management of the partnership has the right only to initiate the procedure for turning off the power supply.

Illegal actions on the part of SNT management:

• removal/damage to cables and other devices through which electricity is supplied;
• extrajudicial agreement with an electric grid or electricity distribution company, as a result of which the debtor will be disconnected.

What to do if your garden house is illegally cut off from electricity

If you find that your gardening area is without power, you must take the following steps:

• find out the reasons for the shutdown. This can be done by contacting neighbors, watchmen, or the SNT board;
• complain about illegal restrictions on the supply of electricity to the police department serving the area. In the application, indicate all SNT data and facts confirming the illegality of the imposed measures;
• file a lawsuit for illegal restriction or suspension of electricity supply. You can prepare it yourself or seek advice from professional lawyers.

Legislative regulation in 2020

According to the new rules, the director of a dacha community can cut the supply of electrical energy:

1. If there is a decision of a judicial authority presented by a bailiff.
2. If violations of the points specified in the contract are detected regarding light consumption - time of use, connection to the common system without a contract or without permission.
3. The end of the resource supply period.

Watch the video: “Individual gardener disconnecting from electricity in SNT.”

Legality

1. Late payment of electricity bills for a specific land plot.
2. Incomplete payment or refusal to pay receipts for electricity used for gardening and dacha needs.

Before going to court, you must first go through other authorities. A consumer who is disconnected from light must first send a request to SNT management to restore the power supply. If this guide does not solve the problem, you should collect the necessary documents, evidence of illegal termination of supplies, and only then go to court.

Can the chairman turn off the electricity in SNT? Such work is carried out by employees of the company that supplies electrical energy to the plots of the gardening non-profit partnership. If the management of a partnership is looking for a solution to the issue of how to deal with defaulters, it should act only through the supplier.

Work procedure

When disconnected, a special seal is installed that prevents the possibility of unauthorized use of electricity. The energy sales representative must also remove such a seal.

The amount of the fee will be 300 rubles for an individual and 6,000 for a legal entity (clause 3, clause 1, article 333.19 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Additional costs may be associated with the involvement of an expert. Subsequently, they can be compensated at the expense of the guilty party.

A gardening non-profit partnership can act as a party to an agreement for the provision of electricity services, along with a homeowners association. In such cases, SNT, as a party to the contract, assumes a number of obligations, including payment for the services provided. Improper fulfillment of the terms of the transaction may lead to suspension or complete cessation of electricity supply.

Regulatory Regulations - Statement for 2021

1. Details of the SNT chairman to whom the letter is sent.
2. Information about the applicant - last name, first name, patronymic, place of residence, contact phone number.
3. Reasons for contacting. In this case, it will be a suspension of the service.
4. Applicant's requirements. The text must reflect that in case of refusal, the applicant will go to court.
5. Date and signature of the applicant.

If we are talking about country houses, then it is understood that they are seasonal housing and are not suitable for permanent residence. Therefore, many people leave their plots of land in winter and return to them only in the spring. In this case, there is no need to supply electricity to the plots. As a rule, the cessation of electricity supply in winter occurs by decision of the SNT board and by agreement with the energy sales organization.

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As noted above, only firms engaged in the supply of electricity have the right to these actions. Unauthorized disconnection of non-paying customers from electricity in a gardening partnership is illegal. In this case, the person whose rights were violated has the right to file a statement of claim in court!

For non-payment of electricity

Gardening can only stop supplying electricity to houses, for example, according to a certain schedule, in winter. All this should be done only with the mutual consent of all participants in the partnership.

But it does so only if the debt arose due to non-payment of contributions for network losses and general consumption. But for debts for the actual consumption of electricity, SNT still does not have the right to turn off the lights.

• owners of their own homes;
• housing users under social tenancy agreements;
• tenants of municipal and state housing;
• members of the housing cooperative;
• legal entities that are tenants of municipal and government premises;
• developers before transferring the premises to the user and the users themselves after transfer by the developer.

From the above, an obvious conclusion follows: until the horticultural association has implemented the division of payments for electricity supply into two components, no restrictions, let alone power outages, can be recognized as legal.

b) violation of its obligations by the consumer, expressed in non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of obligations to pay for electrical energy (power) and (or) services for the transmission of electrical energy, services, the provision of which is an integral part of the process of supplying electrical energy to consumers; identifying the fact of unaccounted consumption of electrical energy by the consumer; failure by the consumer to comply with the terms of the contract relating to ensuring the functioning of relay protection devices, emergency and regime automation, reactive power compensation devices;

Act on power outages in SNT

Restriction and suspension of electricity supply is formalized by a disconnection act. This document is prepared exclusively in simple written form. Any other type of deed makes it invalid.

Attention! Regardless of the organization issuing it, the following data must be indicated in the act:

• the name of the organization that issued it;
• Title of the document;
• date and time of drawing up the act;
• the reasons for the shutdown, specifying the areas to which the energy supply is limited;
• methods and expected timing of resumption of electricity supply;
• signature of the person who drew up the act.

Documents specifying the blackout are attached to the act. For example, a SNT plan indicating de-energized areas and energy supply routes. At the request of the person drawing up the act, other information related to the procedure can be added.

ATTENTION! View the completed sample power outage report:

Administrative responsibility

The amount of compensation incurred by the initiator of introducing a restriction on expenses specified in paragraphs one and two of this paragraph cannot exceed 10,000 rubles (for citizens who are consumers of electrical energy - 1,000 rubles).

Responsibility for illegal power outage in SNT

If you find that there is no electricity supplied to your apartment, call or submit a written statement to the emergency dispatch service. Please note that your request must be registered.

The appellate court overturned the decision of the first instance court and refused to satisfy the demands for monetary compensation for moral damages and a fine, stating the following. From the case materials it follows that the relations of the parties are not based on a paid agreement, SNT does not provide B. with paid electricity supply services and is not an electricity supply organization, the relations between the parties arose in connection with B.’s membership in SNT.

Having established that SNT did not comply with the procedure prescribed by law for disconnecting the site from electrical energy, the court satisfied B.’s claim, ordered the restoration of the electricity supply, and exacted monetary compensation for moral damages and a fine for non-fulfillment of the consumer’s demands in favor of the plaintiff.

Legal recommendations to the governing bodies of gardening partnerships on resolving the issue of “defaulters”, based on the above and established judicial practice.

This position is confirmed, for example, by the conclusion contained in the Information Bulletin of judicial practice on civil cases of the Arkhangelsk Regional Court for the first quarter of 2013: “The legislation on the protection of consumer rights does not regulate the relations of citizens with gardening, gardening and dacha non-profit associations of citizens based on membership citizens in these associations.

Perhaps he did not see “significant harm,” but in this case it is obvious; it may necessarily be material harm, but also moral, since there is a mockery of people, a violation of constitutional rights.

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Good afternoon. Or maybe it makes sense to influence financially? For example, did you incur legal costs last time? Did they collect them from the losing side? They’ll pay the money a couple of times, and next time they’ll think about it.

As for Article 19.1 of the Administrative Code, protocols under this article are also drawn up by the police in accordance with paragraph 1, paragraph 2 of Art. 28.3 of the Administrative Code, and there significant harm is not necessary. That is, at a minimum, the police are obliged to initiate an administrative case, even if they do not see the significance of the harm.

• The name of the organization that performed the shutdown and issued the report.
• Date and time of compilation of this document.
• For what reason were the electricity supplies cut off?
• When will the power supply be restored?
• Signature of the person who issued the document.

Disconnection in both the first and second cases cannot be carried out without warning. The owner of the site must receive notice of the debt a certain number of days before disconnection work is carried out.

Features of bill payment

A member of the SNT pays for electricity for the plot at his own rate, and all gardeners jointly pay for electricity for general needs through contributions. What should the owner of a plot in SNT know about power supply?

A sudden loss of electricity to a home can occur during an emergency. For example, natural disasters, equipment failure and other force majeure circumstances. But often, in practice, situations arise when the lights are turned off without legal grounds. Illegal power outages are possible when the lights are turned off without prior warning, including if there is a debt for housing and communal services. Knowing the legal provisions and authorities where to complain in such situations allows you to quickly resolve the problem.