Water metering Procedure for payment for supplied water in Estonia

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Horatio Lloyd
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1 THE BALTIC WATER WORKS CONFERENCE Vesi annab elu Ūdens dod dzīvību Vanduo suteikia gyvybę Water gives us life Вода дает жизнь Water metering Procedure for payment for supplied water in Estonia Olev Elmik 17 of April 2013 Tartu Estonia

2 At present the Public Water Supply and Sewerage Act (hereinafter the Act) regulates the settling of the accounts with the clients as follows: 1. In general about the organisation of the public water supply and sewerage: 1.1.The local government, i.e. the organ of governing the community living in the area, nominates based on the Act the water undertaking for operating the public water supply and sewerage and for providing through the system the water supply and sewerage servicesin the area of the location of this community 1.2. The organ of governing the community mentioned above approves pursuant to the Act the ruleson use of the public water supply and sewerage systems services in the area of the location of this community These rules describe how the management of the services takes place in the field of water supply and sewerage Which is the intersection of the water supply and sewerage and how this is organised Which part of the water supply and sewerage belongs to the ownership of the owner of the registered immovable and which are the restrictions that the owner has to take into consideration in managing it

3 2. Water undertaking and the client 2.1. The client of the water undertaking is the registered immovable depending neither on the size of the registered immovable nor the purpose of using it 2.2. The supply point of the registered immovable with the public water supply is the corresponding surface valve and with the public sewerage the connection manhole. A supply point shall be situated pursuant to the law at the boundary of the registered immovable or up to one metre outside the boundary of a registered immovable

4 2.3. The supply points described in clause 2.2 divide also the area of responsibility: The community, i.e. the local government, who has delegated this within the limits of competence to the water undertaking, is responsible for the public water supply and sewerage, i.e. for this part which is located outside the boundaries of the registered immovable The owner of the registered immovable, no matter who it is legal or physical person, is responsible for this part of the water supply and sewerage which is located inside the boundaries of the registered immovable So, all the pipelines located inside the boundaries of the registered immovable belong to the owner(s) of the registered immovable

5 2.4.If there is more than one owner of the registered immovable, then the division of the obligations is the responsibility of the owner (in case of the joint ownership the common decision or work format of the owners pursuant to the legislation) The owner of the registered immovable organises the division of the payment for the public water supply and sewerage services in case there are several co-owners or users of the land, i.e. the owner of the registered immovable collects the corresponding charges and pays to the water undertaking for the registered immovable as one unit Several co-owners or users of the registered immovable mentioned in clause are not independent or separate clients of the water undertaking The reason is that directly no public water supply or sewerage pipeline is connected to the part of the registered immovable (e.g. flat) belonging to them which means: - in such case, for example, the pipeline from the supply point to the water supply system of the flat belongs at least partially to the other co-owner or is the common property of the users or owners of the registered immovable as one unit

6 as also the pipelines inside the boundaries of the registered immovable must be taken care of and there are expenses related to this, then the owner (or owners together) is/are also responsible for these activities very often the owners of the registered immovable buy in the service of the administration of the registered immovable from some administrative company or entrepreneur. In such cases also this administrative company (e.g. based on the decision of the general meeting of the apartment association or any other legal basis) can pay to the water undertaking for the services of the public water supply and sewerage As it can be seen from clauses , there will or can be several additional expenses for being provided with the public water supply and sewerage services from the supply point into the boundaries of the registered immovable. The legislation has left the solution of these matters and the organisation of the division of the related expenses to the co-owners of the registered immovable

7 In Estonia the community does not interfere in such decisions of the owner of the registered immovable as -how cheap or expensive is the organisation of the abovementioned issues at the registered immovable -which are the bases for the division of the expenses at the registered immovable -etc The contract partner / client of the water undertaking is the registered immovable as one unit

8 3. Such principle is justified and fair as the property is inviolable. Each owner has the right to manage his own registered immovable and develop it according to his needs, but at the same time the legal restrictions agreed upon in the community (in the legal acts and other documents based on these) must be taken into consideration. The owner is also responsible for everything that takes place on the registered immovable belonging to him

9 3.1. Everyone has the right to choose different comforts which are best for him Some people feel comfortable when living in the private house and paying for all the related expenses Some people find it more comfortable to live in the apartment house which is in common ownership and pay their part for the common expenses The community as one unit organises the public water supply service from the water intake to the boundaries of the registered immovable and the public sewerage services from the boundaries of the registered immovable to the recipient. And this does not depend on the size of the registered immovable

10 Now and then an issue has arisen to go back to the time 20 years ago when the owner of the flat was the client of the water undertaking. In this matter there have been several initiations for changing the Act and draft Acts have been discussed The ideas of the initiators to expand the obligations of the water undertakings inside the boundaries of the registered immovable are not clear The water undertaking has no other income besides the charges collected from the clients for the services provided If the water undertaking starts preferring someone personally or offer additional services, then this means automatically additional expenses

11 If the additional expenses are covered from the charges for providing the public water supply and sewerage services, then this means the rise of tariffs But the tariffs are the same in the pricing area This also means that for the additional services provided to the owners of the flats who live in apartment houses, also other people must pay, e.g. those living in the private house, companies, etc What will happen then to the investments made for meeting the EU requirements from the means of the Cohesion Fund, Environmental Investment Centre, local governments or the funds of the water undertaking? These are in this case not appropriate or at least not partially appropriate

12 Very often the water undertaking has problems with having the access to the building or water metering node located at the registered immovable for taking the water meter for checking the status of it or taking it to verification. But how can the water undertaking start - controlling the status of the built in riser pipes in the apartment houses? - taking the responsibility for the status of this pipes? - in the situation where the apartment association is not responsible for the status of the pipes, it is not interested in the co-operation any more - if there is a leakage on one floor, but the others want and must be guaranteed with water supply and sewage disposal services

13 - how expensive it will be for the whole community - how many additional specialists must be hired and trained? - at present these activities are organised by the administrative companies or the apartment associations they ask price proposals, conclude co-operation contracts, pay for the work done and agree with the potential delays - but the water undertaking must be ready to act also when everything is functioning - I suspect that the efficiency of the water undertaking will decrease essentially and irrationality will increase

14 4. It is fixed in the legislation for the assessment of the scope of the public water supply and sewerage services provided to the registered immovable that 4.1. the calculation is based on the reading of the water meter 4.2. the water meters are installed by the water undertaking in the place meeting the requirements and prepared by the owner of the registered immovable 4.3. The water undertaking organises the verification of the water meters pursuant to the requirements of the legislation

15 5. Thus, also the water metering node belongs to the owner of the registered immovable but there are certain requirements (restrictions) set to it. The main requirements are following: 5.1. the access to the water metering node at the registered immovable must be guaranteed, 5.2. the temperature must not fall under 0 degrees, 5.3. the lightening must be guaranteed, 5.4. the access to the water meter must be guaranteed, 5.5. the connections before the water meter must be visible, 5.6. the water meter must be protected from the exterior impacts (breaking, etc. because of the exterior factors)

16 6. The calculation of the scope of the sewerage service is also based on the reading of the water meter. This is so only if the sewage discharged from the registered immovable is not measured. But if it is possible, practical and trustworthy to measure the amount of sewage directed into the public sewerage, then it is reasonable and appropriate to take the readings of the sewage meter for the basis of the calculation It is appropriate to consider the possibility of the installation of the sewage meters in case of big volumes and especially what concerns the production companies on concluding the subscription and/or service contract 6.2. In case of the production companies it might be appropriate to plan the facilities for defining the content of pollutants on concluding the subscription and/or service contract 6.3. Thus, in case of some (production) registered immovable the supply point can be a system of different facilities

17 7. Charges in Estonia are defined by the water undertaking. But of course, it cannot be done as the undertaking wants. This has been also regulated by the already mentioned Public Water Supply and Sewerage Act 7.1. If the licensed territory of a water undertaking is situated in the waste water collection area with pollution load of 2000 population equivalent or more, the water company shall co-ordinate the application to set prices with the Competition Authority 7.2. If the licensed territory of a water undertaking is situated in the waste water collection area with pollution load of less than 2000 population equivalent, the water company shall co-ordinate the application to set prices with the local government. The local government must perform the co-ordination of the application to set prices on the same legal basis as the Competition Authority

18 THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

On the Rights of Landowners to Compensation for Restrictions on Economic Activities in Specially Protected Nature Territories and Microreserves

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