How much does it cost to change an electric meter: the cost of replacing an electricity meter in an apartment and a private house
Replacing an electricity meter occurs infrequently, but it is still necessary to reinstall it due to a move, breakdown of an old device, supplier requirements, or a change in tariff plan. Before purchasing a new device, you should clarify at whose expense it is purchased and installed.
Let's try to figure out how much it costs to change an electric meter if all the hassle of replacing falls on the shoulders of the homeowner. We will also consider which metering device manufacturers you can trust when choosing a suitable meter.
The content of the article:
Reasons for replacing the electric meter
Each electricity meter has a guaranteed service life established by the manufacturer. After it expires, you need to replace the device with a working modern model.
It is better to monitor the operation of the electric meter yourself, without relying on the management company or the supplier. Information on the service life can be found in the technical data sheet. An expired calibration interval is a direct path to replacing the device.
The second reason for replacement is the discrepancy between the accuracy class and current standards.
According to current regulations set out in Resolution Pr. RF No. 442 (ed. 2016), only devices of class 2.0 or higher are allowed for use. Household electricity meters with an accuracy class of 1.5 or 1.0 are considered more accurate.
This means that for every 100 W of energy actually expended, an error of 2% (1.5%, 1%) is possible, that is, the device can show both 98 W and 102 W. Devices with class 2.5 are considered obsolete and must be replaced immediately.
There are several other situations in which it is necessary to replace the meter:
- The measurement results have sharply increased or decreased, do not correspond to the usual value, or are no longer displayed on the display.
- The device seal or other verification marks are broken.
- There is mechanical damage on the case or display.
Failure can be noticed even by signs such as uneven, intermittent rotation of the disk or chaotic “jumping” of numbers.
If the glass is broken, a crack appears on the body, or the seal is clearly broken, you should immediately call an electrician and contact the management company for advice.
The owner must take the initiative to replace the device, but there is no need to rush to pay for the purchase and installation. It is possible that all events will be carried out at the expense of some organization.
When does the owner pay for the new meter?
Payment and installation rules change from time to time and we are now once again witnessing changing regulatory requirements. But while the new legislation has not come into force, we will consider the existing provisions that homeowners may encounter before 2020.
Option #1 - non-privatized apartment
As always, non-privatized housing owned by the municipality poses the most problems. According to Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the owners of the house should be responsible for energy meters - that is, for example, the city.
Representatives of the management company often refer to Art. 543 Civil Code of the Russian Federation and they claim that the tenant must be responsible for the safe operation of the device (which is true), which means that, if necessary, he is also obliged to change it. However, they forget that the employer does not directly take electricity from the supplier, but through the energy receiving installations at home, which are not his property.
Therefore, he is not a subscriber of Energosbyt. This role is assigned to the management company, which is responsible for all electrical equipment. Simply put, according to the law, it is the management company that must pay for the work to replace an outdated or broken device.
If representatives of the management company refuse to install a new device, we recommend filing a complaint with the housing inspectorate.
Option #2 - own apartment
According to Art. 210 Civil Code of the Russian Federation, if the housing is owned, the owner of the apartment assumes full responsibility for the metering devices.
This applies to both options:
- if the electric meter is installed on a common landing or in a common corridor;
- if the meter is an element in-room electrical panel.
But there are cases when the device is changed, say, by the management company. This occurs during the planned replacement of all devices, regardless of the year of their manufacture.
In rare cases, neighbors who accidentally or intentionally disable the equipment become guilty of damage to electrical installations or the meter, provided that it is located in a common electrical cabinet for several apartments. Accordingly, they fully compensate for the damage, and if they do not want to do this of their own free will, the matter is resolved in court.
If the organization - the management company - is responsible for all the equipment, then this should be stated in the contract.
Option #3 – private house
The rules for replacing an electricity meter for a private home do not differ from the requirements for owners of privatized apartments.
To find out who will install the new device, you need to look at the service agreement. The responsible person, the owner of the house or the management company, must draw up an agreement with the supplier, whose employees will select a suitable device and carry out the installation work.
The replacement procedure is carried out in stages, in a certain order:
- application for replacement, choice of date and time for work;
- taking readings, unsealing and dismantling the device;
- installation of a new device, connection and testing;
- installation of a machine at the entrance;
- checking and sealing of the electric meter by representatives of Energosbyt.
If the reinstallation process takes a long time, for example, a week, electricity payments for the current period are calculated based on average readings.
What will change from 2020?
Since December 28, 2018, the official Internet portal of legal information has posted materials on changes relating to electricity metering systems.
Good news awaits residents of the country: all responsibilities for installing, using, and checking electricity meters are completely transferred to suppliers. The only requirement for homeowners is to monitor the integrity of the appliances.
It is planned to eventually replace all devices with “smart” analogues that transmit readings without human intervention. Homeowners do not need to purchase or install new appliances, but it is not yet known how the changes will affect utility energy bills overall.
But now users are required to transmit their electricity meter readings themselves. We talked about the best ways to transmit data over light in our other article.
Prices for electricity meters
Today on the market you can find dozens of models of metering devices that meet the requirements of electricity suppliers. Their cost ranges from 1,000 to several tens of thousands of rubles. Popular brands include: Mercury, SEB, ESR, CE. Domestic devices are inexpensive, on average 1-2 thousand rubles.
Several inexpensive popular devices that differ in type and characteristics:
If your old electric meter suddenly stops working, then for a small amount you can purchase one of the indicated devices or a more advanced modification. There is no point in buying an expensive device, since there are less than 2 years left before the widespread change of devices begins.
Cost of replacement work
There are no specific tariffs for replacing metering devices and there cannot be, since the cost depends on the region, the rules of the management company and Energosbyt. Representatives of the electricity supplier ask for one amount, private owners ask for another, and an electrician you know can even replace the device for free.
We discussed in detail the procedure and rules for replacing the electric meter in next article.
Remember that no matter who installed the device, verification, sealing, and registration are carried out only by representatives of the sales company.
If instead of a conventional electronic device you want to install a smart device, the cost will increase to 9 thousand rubles.
The cost of individual installation work is much lower. Let’s assume that in the Vologda region, installing a 1-phase meter costs about 650 rubles, while installing a 3-phase device costs 2 times more. If the installation is accompanied by the relocation of the electrical panel, then the price increases to 3-5 thousand rubles.
Simply put, how much it costs to replace an electricity meter in a private house or apartment can only be found out by analyzing the installation conditions and average market prices in a particular city/village.
Conclusions and useful video on the topic
This video discusses the cheapest way to replace a meter, when the owner does everything with his own hands:
DIY Replacement Guide:
What problems may you encounter when replacing a meter:
In connection with the latest statements by the President on the introduction of an intelligent electricity metering system, we recommend that anyone wishing to make a replacement for subjective reasons (they don’t like the type, design) wait until July 1, 2020, when the exact timing of the installation of a “smart” device in your home or apartment will become known.
Have you recently replaced your electric meter and want to tell us how much all the replacement work cost you? Have you had any difficulties with the management company? Share your experience of replacing an electric meter in the comments section.
The visiting electricians sometimes openly impose this replacement of the meter, although it is still too early in terms of timing, and there are no complaints about the work of the meter. We recently had to order unsealing and subsequent sealing of the meter, because... a wire began to burn and smoke, which could not be reached without breaking the integrity of the seal. Unsealing 750 rubles, a new seal 750 rubles, and both times they tried to persuade me to change the meter. Consumers of services need to know their rights like a primer: inside and out. Otherwise, we will pay not only for the necessary services, but also for our own darkness and lack of enlightenment.
Hmm, we recently replaced our old mechanical electricity meter with a new electronic one. It turns out that in 2020 we will have to change to this “smart” one again? It’s okay if this replacement is carried out at the expense of the management company or the state, but knowing how they like to do it in our country, make sure that the costs are not passed on to the owners. And what responsibility awaits those who refuse to change?
Hello. The meter replacement program lasts approximately 10 years, so there is no telling when the wave will hit your area. The replacement will start on July 1, 2020, and the peak wave will occur in 2022, judging by what the government decided there.
Regarding your second question, developers and management companies bear the financial burden of procurement and installation. Also, let's look at the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, Art.166 “Major repairs of common property in an apartment building”:
“A regulatory legal act of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation includes a list of services and (or) work on major repairs of common property in an apartment building, financed from the capital repair fund, the amount of which is based on the minimum amount of contribution for major repairs established by a regulatory legal act of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, can be supplemented with services and (or) work on façade insulation, conversion of an unventilated roof to a ventilated roof, installation of exits to the roof, installation of automated information-measuring systems for accounting for the consumption of utility resources and utilities, installation of collective (common house) meters for metering the consumption of resources necessary for the provision of utilities, and control units and regulation of the consumption of these resources (heat energy, hot and cold water, electricity, gas) and other types of services and (or) work”.
Manage not at the expense and not at the expense of the state, but this is the energy supply. That is, NESK wants to supply us with smart meters in quotes, and then raise the tariff, that is, not 5 rubles, but 8, and they will spend it once on a smart meter, and then they will milk us for the rest of our lives. That’s how things stand and their charity
I receive letters of happiness from our Energocomfort, they demand to replace the meter, because... “Otherwise, the payment will be at an inflated rate.” In correspondence with the company, I mentioned that the meter had not expired and was working properly.Now I don’t see any reason to change it at all - our house belongs to TSN, and at the expense of capital repairs it is necessary to change the entire panels, and not just the meters.
Hello. How does the company justify the requirements? I heard that supposedly this company even went from house to house and demanded that the meters be replaced, but it turned out that they were scammers. Look at the return address to see if it definitely belongs to the company and, if so, clarify the rationale for the request.
The other day we were sent a letter of happiness, which states that within 10 days we must replace the meter. Otherwise, we will be charged more for the energy consumed. A few days before this letter, a lady walked around the entrance and encouraged everyone to change the meters, threatening that they would turn off the lights, and offered a replacement at a price of 7,400 rubles. She gave out pieces of paper that said Mosobluchet, although we are served by the Istra Electric Networks company.
Now the paper came from the Istra Electric Network, but the devices were tested and no one drew up any reports of unsuitability, we regularly accept payment, and then suddenly they started attacking about replacement!
Hello. This is a fraud. Most likely, the lady is not from the Mosobluchet, but from swindlers. Do not listen to representatives of organizations with which you do not have an energy supply agreement. And even when the gas workers from the gas supply company arrive, be sure to ask them for identification.
There are a lot of cases of fraud! Remember that it makes sense to consider all such instructions only from the service company.
My meter is 15 years old, and only 20 thousand kW have been wound.Isn’t it possible to just check it for some kind of payment, like, for example, water meters?
Hello. If there is no official order for replacement as a result of an inspection by Energosbyt employees, then there is no point in changing the electric meter.
In general, what are your verification deadlines? Have you never been verified? Electricity meters are verified in the same way as they are carried out verification of water meters, on time.
Again, there are 2 options:
— Take it to the laboratory for verification (which means money + calculation according to the standard).
— Order an on-site verification (in some cases it is impossible or impractical).
In the first case, it is often cheaper to replace the device with a new one, so people from the outback do not really honor verification.
And another question. Has your meter expired?
Since May, we have been forced to change the meter, my husband went to apply for a replacement. The company gave him a phone number to which he needed to transfer an advance payment of five thousand rubles, and said that the remaining four thousand after replacing the meter... He did not write any application for a replacement.
Hello. Everything in your story is somehow ghostly. What does it mean, they gave you a phone number to which you need to make an advance payment. Haven't they heard about receipts? What about the contract? Next, I was alarmed by the amount. I checked the Mosenergosbyt website, in the capital, and even then, a replacement costs a MAXIMUM of 8,500 rubles. Then, the absence of an application with an advance payment requirement is also alarming.
Another question - it’s already December, if you’ve had problems with your meter since May, why haven’t you been charged the standard (or have you been charged?) until now for the malfunction of the old device or its expiration date?
Where did your spouse go? Where the employees told him to replace the meter, or exactly at the head office address indicated on the receipt?
My advice to you is to go to the exact address of Energosbyt yourself. Find out all the details and do not make any prepayments without concluding a contract and receipt. Plus, find out the exact reason for the replacement and receive a prescription.
Your story is very similar to stories and reports about scammers who carry out similar schemes.
Roughly speaking, changing the meter means flipping the switch, unscrewing and tightening four screws and inserting four wires into the appropriate places. All! Uncomplicated, dust-free, energy-intensive. It costs the management company Lazarevskoe LLC 1,200 rubles. But it's not that simple. First, they need two weeks to think about the process, then to find a car for the electrician, which, unknown when, will be in the direction of your house. But then she appeared and... you weren’t at home. It turns out that warning in advance is not their business. What does it mean? And the fact that you have to drop everything and sit hopelessly for another month, maybe, no one will say how long, waiting for an opportunity with a car. The electrician doesn’t want to take a taxi at my expense. I can, of course, do this work myself, although I have never even changed sockets in my life. But will it be legal? And how to apply?
Hello. "UK" sent me a notice to replace the electric meter within a month (due to the end of its service life), otherwise there will be charges according to the standard. According to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated June 29, 2020. for No. 950, responsibility passed to energy companies and replacement of meters was removed from consumers. Where should I go?
Zin, this thing is called between the SI verification interval of measuring instruments.
Do the documents indicate the end of the device's life?
I want to change the meter from 220 to 380, to connect an electric boiler in a private house, the energy supply company offers to buy 12 kilowatts at a price of 3000, because supposedly I only have 3 kilowatts per house (I of course understand that for a faster solution the meter is all I will buy the rest myself) is their demand legal?