Energy parasitism in Odesa as a result of corruption among city officials
Today, buying ground-floor residential premises, especially on the city’s central streets, and converting them into offices, shops and so on is common practice in Odesa. The first thing the owners of such premises do is obtain permission from the city authorities to disconnect the heating. City officials hand out these permits quite readily (and most likely not for free). To see this, one need only walk along a central street and note how many new offices and shops have appeared in residential buildings. Yet by handing out such permits, city officials not only violate the law almost routinely, but also increase the threat to citizens’ property, health and lives.
Background
The switch from central to individual heating in apartments began in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The legislation, which was liberal at the time, facilitated this. Thus, in the Rules for Providing Water Supply, Heating and Sewerage Services to the Population, approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1497 of 30.12.1997, paragraph 9, subparagraph 3, stipulated: “If a consumer refuses to use water supply, heating and sewerage services, they have the right to terminate the agreement and demand disconnection from the relevant networks.”
The adoption of the new Rules for Providing Central Heating, Cold and Hot Water Supply and Sewerage Services, approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 630 of 21.07.2005 and, on the basis of paragraph 25 of those Rules, the Procedure for Disconnecting Individual Premises in Residential Buildings from Central Heating and Hot Water Supply Networks When Consumers Decline District Heating, approved by Order No. 4 of the Ministry of Construction, Architecture, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine of 22.11.2005 changed nothing fundamentally for those who wanted to give up central heating.
But in 2007, the state came to its senses and prohibited the disconnection of individual apartments, since this unbalanced the central heating system. Only entire apartment buildings were permitted to disconnect. Amendments were made both to Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 630 and to Order No. 4 of the Ministry of Construction, Architecture, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine.
Some people even took the matter to the Kyiv District Administrative Court. But the court dismissed the claim.
The court’s reasoning is very telling. Let us quote some of its arguments:
– “When a building is designed, the means of heat supply — district heating — is also incorporated. In accordance with the relevant building regulations governing the installation of heating systems, all risers and internal distribution networks are hydraulically balanced at the design stage to ensure stable operation of the building’s heating system.”
– “Disconnecting individual apartments along a riser unbalances the hydraulic operating conditions of the building’s internal heating system and redistributes the heat-transfer fluid, reducing its supply to other risers. In other words, if the building itself contains 100% of the heat, each apartment receives a certain amount of heat, a certain percentage. If one apartment is disconnected from this integrated, interacting system, the occupants of the other apartments will no longer receive 100% of the heat from the building. The main quantity of heat comes precisely from the entire building, from its integral parts — the apartments — and this produces a return transfer to all the apartments in the building.
Moreover, during construction, specific types of pipes are used for the central heating system, whose physical characteristics are set out in the aforementioned SNiP 2.04.05-91*. The pipes must withstand resistance tests under a specified internal pressure. Table 2 of Appendix 25 to SNiP 2.04.05-91*. Any changes in pressure may lead to unforeseen consequences.”
The rules in force today
The disconnection of apartments from central heating systems in apartment buildings received fresh impetus with the adoption of the new Law “On Housing and Communal Services”. To implement the provisions of the Law, the Procedure for Disconnecting Consumers from Central Heating (Heat Supply) and Hot Water Supply Networks (Systems)was adopted and approved by Order No. 169 of the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine of 26.07.2019. This procedure established rules for disconnecting buildings from central heating systems and also granted the right to disconnect apartments and non-residential premises in apartment buildings from central heating, but on one condition: on the date the Law of Ukraine “On Housing and Communal Services” entered into force, at least half of the apartments and non-residential premises in the building had already been separated (disconnected) from central heating and the building was included in the list of such buildings. The procedure also required commissions established by local self-government bodies to consider the disconnection of consumers from central heating networks to publish their decisions on the council’s official website.
The reality in Odesa
The first thing anyone seeking to investigate the situation in this area encounters is a complete lack of publicly available information on disconnecting premises in apartment buildings from central heating systems.
The website of the municipal enterprise TMO should contain a list of apartment buildings in which at least half of the apartments and non-residential premises have been separated (disconnected) from central heating. It was there, but then, for unknown reasons, the link to the list became “broken” (meaning it could not be opened). Information requests, followed by an application for pre-trial settlement of the dispute, resulted in the link working again. Now everyone can consult the list of apartment buildings in which, on the date the Law of Ukraine “On Housing and Communal Services” entered into force, at least half of the apartments and non-residential premises had been separated (disconnected) from central heating networks. The list contains a total of 189 buildings, most of them concentrated in the city’s Prymorskyi district.
Despite the legal requirement to publish the minutes of commission meetings having been in force for more than 4 years, this information is still absent from the public domain. A request to the city council elicited very interesting responses from each of the city’s district administrations, stating that the current regulations governing district commissions at the district administrations do not provide for publication of their decisions. In other words, despite the legal requirements, city officials are in no hurry to comply with the law.
Despite all the bureaucratic obstacles and city officials’ unwillingness to provide any information, after filing an application for pre-trial settlement of the dispute, the Zelenyi Lyst civic organisation did manage to obtain the minutes of 2 meetings of the commission at the Prymorskyi District Administration held in late 2021.
An analysis of those minutes showed exactly why local officials are in no hurry to comply with the legislation in force and publish information as the law requires. Their work in this area is largely directed towards violating the requirements established by law. Judge for yourselves.
Regarding minutes No. 5 of 10.09.2021: of the 53 building addresses considered at the commission meeting, only 10 are on the list of buildings where heating can be disconnected in individual premises. There was a refusal for one more address. But permission was granted for the other 42 building addresses, where the law does not allow premises to be disconnected from heating. Sometimes additional conditions are imposed: permission subject to re-registering the account, providing title documents, concluding a contract or paying off debts to TMO.
Regarding minutes No. 7 of 05.11.2021: of the 24 building addresses considered at the commission meeting, only 4 are on the list of buildings where heating can be disconnected in individual premises. No positive decision was taken for two more building addresses. Permission was granted for the other 18 addresses, which are not included in the list of buildings where heating may be disconnected in individual premises; 6 of these permissions had additional conditions.
In our opinion, this state of affairs concerning the granting of unlawful permits to disconnect premises in Odesa’s apartment buildings from heating is due precisely to corruption. Yet few people pay attention to two further consequences of disconnecting individual premises from central heating systems.
One consequence of installing individual heating that experts draw attention to is the phenomenon of energy parasitism. “Those who spread the word about how wonderful it is to have individual heating usually live inside the building (the heated envelope),” notes Oleksandr Hut. “That means they are surrounded on both sides, above and below by heated premises with a temperature of at least 20 degrees, rather than the sub-zero temperature outside. So their apartment will always be at least +18 degrees. If they install a heating boiler, their own heat generator, and supposedly disconnect from the central heating system, it turns out that they are actually deceiving everyone. Essentially, these people are simply stealing heat from neighbours who pay for central heating.”
The second consequence is a reduction in TMO’s customer base, to which the company supplies heat during the cold season. But these actions and these questions do not concern the company or its head, Hanna Ivanivna Pozdniakova. The city authorities are always ready to provide subsidies from Odesa’s budget to cover losses. And it does not matter that some of those losses are caused by the actions of the city authorities themselves. The income goes into officials’ own pockets, while the expenditure is covered at the expense of every Odesa resident.
An attempt to find out from TMO how many customers had been disconnected from central heating systems in recent years, however, met with the enterprise’s employees’ unwillingness to provide this information. To justify withholding it, TMO’s management classified the numerical figures as confidential information and, among other things, independently assigned itself the status of a state authority or local self-government body.
To sum up the above, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. Odesa officials grant permits to disconnect premises from central heating at their own discretion, disregarding the requirements of the law, which shows signs of corruption.
2. Such permits allow recipients to disconnect their premises in apartment buildings from the central heating system.
3. Such disconnections worsen heating conditions for other residents of buildings in which premises have been separated from central heating systems.
4. TMO’s losses from these unlawful disconnections are compensated by all Odesa residents through the city budget.
To clarify the situation concerning permits to disconnect individual premises in apartment buildings from central heating systems, the Zelenyi Lyst civic organisation approached Odesa City Council member O. Kvasnitska. We hope that more thorough conclusions can be drawn in the future.