The professional community continues to discuss the topic of non-transparency payments for utilities, fairness of tariffs, and need to protect consumers. However, what kind of protection of both sides of relations in the communal energy sector can we talk about if payment is being performed not for the actually consumed resource volume, but according to the standards based on calculation methods, with admissions and disagreements.
The solution is to install metering devices at end users (including apartment-based ones) and pay to the fact. The modern technologies provide maximum convenience of such metering systems, all the devices provide data remotely, without taking part of person, via wire and radio communications, the communication means are various and highly reliable, software both on the server and the users is friendly and all the interfaces are simple.
Sergey Ledovskiy, Chairman of the Council of Association "Metrology of Energy Saving": “The honest digits are needed by all parties of relationship, this eliminates misunderstandings and proceedings. There is a number of native manufacturers on the market not just of metering devices, but already of smart metering systems, including meters, communications, software. Those systems are developing towards the integration of various resources - water, heat, electric power. The customer receives not just equipment, but completely ready solution of their needs.”
The modern heat meter is a whole mini-computer that stores consumption information archive and can respond with the necessary data to system requests, moreover all data are operable, because they are read at a certain time moment. I.e. you can calculate the exact resource consumption in an apartment or house for the required period.
And although such telemetry systems are more expensive than simple heat meters and are much more complicated technologically, they are already available for most different consumer types - both in new buildings and in secondary residential buildings. Two recent examples from experience of Karat RPA, Russian manufacturer of full cycle water and heat metering devices and systems. In January 2021 more than 3000 heat meters and 7200 water meters of "Karat" have been installed in new residential complexes of Krasnodar. And in Yekaterinburg residents of one of the Homeowners Association (HOA) have taken a corresponding decision at general meeting and installed Karat-Compact 2-213 heat meters with LoRaWAN radio interface module in their apartments connected to the “Energocabinet” smart metering ecosystem. And now they also enjoy all the benefits of smart metering.
Perhaps soon smart meters will be used overall, and disagreements and claims for utilities charges will become a thing of the past.