We all sometimes find ourselves in unpleasant situations, one of which may well be a lack of money to pay for utilities. As a rule, with a debt of several months, electricians from the management company come and turn off the electricity by sealing the meter. Are you in such a situation and do not know what to do if you turn off the light for non-payment? To begin with, find out whether it was lawful for you to de-energize an apartment or a private house. Below we have provided a procedure for actions that the management company (hereinafter referred to as the Criminal Code) must perform in order to legally disconnect you from the current power grid. Review the information provided to find out where to go if a problem occurs and how to temporarily (illegally and legally) connect the power.
On what grounds can they turn off the electricity?
According to current laws, you can turn off the light at your home if the non-payment is 3 or more standard monthly electricity bills. In addition, the Criminal Code is obliged to notify the defaulter of its intentions 30 days before the power outage. If after this period you have not paid the debt, another notification should come, which must be issued against receipt. The last notice that is handed to you says that if you do not pay off the rent debt within 3 days, the management company will legally turn off the electricity.
This information is true and is taken from the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of May 6, 2011 N 354 "On the provision of utilities to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings."
If in your case the procedure was not the same, for example, the light was turned off for non-payment without warning and without a court decision, you can complain to the relevant authorities - the prosecutor's office or the FAS (Federal Antimonopoly Service). Also, when you find that there is no electricity, you will probably ask yourself the question - "where to call?" First of all, call your management company, housing and communal services or HOA, which will probably tell you why this happened.
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How to solve the problem yourself?
To begin with, you must find out on what basis the light was turned off and whether the electricians had the right to touch your meter at all. Of course, if you did not receive a written notification in your hands, this indicates that the disconnection occurred without warning. In this case, you need to complain to the above authorities. You can also say that the illegal de-energization of the apartment caused you a number of problems, namely:
- Food was missing in the refrigerator, which stopped working.
- Because of the darkness, you stumbled and damaged something.
If you also attach evidence to this - a certificate of injury and sue the management company on the basis of arbitrariness, you can achieve good compensation, which will cover part of the non-payment for which you turned off the light in your house or apartment. There are also many nuances that it is better to talk about with a lawyer, for example, what to do if there is a failure to pay for a long time but no one lives in the apartment.
If the procedure for disconnecting electricity for non-payment was carried out legally, and the Criminal Code acted by a court decision, you will have to first pay the debt, get the corresponding receipt and visit the management company. There you will have to pay for the connection, the cost of which will be said by the organization itself (usually they require you to pay 1000-1500 rubles). After paying all debts, the electrician is obliged to turn on the light for you no later than in a day (24 hours), the time established by law,
What can be done while there is no electricity?
There are several ways that you can turn on the light while it was turned off for non-payment. Some, as you understand, are illegal and threaten with decent fines, and some are quite legal and will help to solve short-term difficulties. So, in order, we list all possible ways to solve the problem:
We draw your attention to the fact that it is very dangerous and illegal to climb into the floor switchboard and connect the wires back to the sealed meter. Firstly, it is regarded as theft and is punished with high fines. Secondly, without electrical skills, it is very dangerous to work with live wiring, so it is better to solve the problem with debts, contact the management company and fill out the documents, after which the light will be connected to you anyway!
Video on how the generator works in the country:
Legal solution to the problem before the light is connected
That's all I wanted to tell you about this! We hope that now you know what to do if you turn off the light for non-payment, where to go and how to connect the electricity yourself!