Gas shutdown in an apartment building: how to act in the absence of gas supply

Amir Gumarov
Checked by a specialist: Amir Gumarov
Author: Elena Kondratyuk
Last update: September 2019

Sudden gas outages rarely occur in apartment buildings, but the issue is still relevant today. When this happens, the problem is very annoying to the residents. After all, everyone has some household chores, including: cooking, heating water, etc. People start to worry about not knowing the situation. They are interested in questions of why there is no gas supply, how to act in such a situation.

If there is no gas in your house, you can find out the reason for the shutdown by calling 104 or 112. The dispatcher of the gas supply organization will answer all questions, you will even know what time there will be no blue fuel at your address. But this is true in the case when scheduled work is carried out in your house, if the reason is different, then other measures will need to be taken. Let's figure out together what to do in a given situation.

Is it legal to turn off the gas?

From a legal point of view, gas supply to all subscribers living in apartment buildings or their own homes is delivered after conclusion of the contract between interested parties. On the one hand, it is a subscriber, on the other, a gas supplying company.

Gas service workers
Specialized gas supplying organizations that are subsidiaries in the regions of Gazprom PJSC deliver gas to their homes, employees of these farms serve the population in the event of gas leaks, they are also authorized to stop the supply of natural resources to debtors

The legal regulation of the supply of gas fuel is based on a number of decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation, which take into account the basic conditions for the supply of blue fuel, the facts of regulation of the cost of gas, stipulate social principles regarding guarantees of gas supply to the population and take into account preferential conditions.

A resident of an apartment building is required to pay for natural resources, and the company must in turn ensure a round-the-clock supply of natural fuel.

All this is stated in the following regulations:

Therefore, companies supplying gas to houses and apartments are fully responsible for shutting off natural gas in an apartment building or in a private household. Is it always legal to turn off natural gas without warning? Only lawyers can answer this question. Organizations have the right to turn off gas supply in some cases when it concerns certain reasons.

These reasons are specified in detail in Government Decision No. 410adopted on May 14, 2013, it describes measures to ensure safety by citizens who have domestic and gas equipment inside the apartment. In case of non-compliance with security measures, the owner may lose the supply of natural gas under legal conditions.

The apartment is cold there is no gas
In a situation where the gas supply is shut off for a certain period, the gas service is obliged to inform consumers for what reason and for how long the gas supply will be absent

Residents of high-rise buildings are notified in writing, post announcements at the entrance to the porch, or announce on local broadcasting or television.

Reasons for shutting off gas supply legally:

  1. When the user of the service did not draw up an emergency maintenance contract with a gas company. Or he was engaged in independently installing and repairing various gas equipment.
  2. If malfunctions are found in the ventilation mechanism or chimneys.
  3. In emergency situations, if it is impossible to locally eliminate the gas leak, then the gas supply to the whole house or block is turned off.
  4. The client does not pay for gas for more than three months. The company also shuts off gas for other reasons, when the subscriber violates the terms of the supply contract.
  5. They can turn off the gas if the resident of the apartment does not provide data on the amount of gas consumed, and does not let in controllers to check the condition of the gas equipment.
  6. Stop supplying a natural resource when a client does not comply gas equipment operating rules or uses prohibited gas appliances.

Unscheduled shutdown of fuel when there are breakdowns of a house character, emergency situations in the gas pipelines themselves.

In such situations, repairmen primarily care about people's lives. Therefore, residents need to wait until specialists fix the problem.

Situations when they can turn off the gas

When the consumer and the gas supply company do not have a gas supply agreement, Gazprom has the right to turn off the supply of the resource both in the apartment and in the house.

 Lack of gas supply
Under the law, it is possible to impose sanctions on residents, starting with the process of imposing fines, and ending with the cessation of fuel supply, but in a certain order

Consider the question of how to turn off natural gas for non-payment in an apartment or in a house. In almost all cases, disconnection from the gas system is carried out according to one scheme in the established sequence.

Option number 1 - for debts

If there is a debt for two or three months for gas supply to the tenant, the company already has the right to start taking measures to suspension of gas supply. Moreover, the legislation does not talk about the amount of debt.

The sequence of actions of the gas supplier in this situation is as follows:

  • the first thing the supplier does is to notify the debtor of an impending gas supply shutdown. The letter indicates the planned date of sealing, the reason for the suspension of fuel supply;
  • Gorgaz workers are required to send a second petition in 20 days, to remind that the company can cut off gas supply if the tenant does not pay the debts;
  • when the consumer ignored this notification, then the specialists are already leaving for the place. Cut the pipe and seal it.

After the completion of technical work, gas workers write a carbon copy certificate. One copy remains with them, another is given to the unscrupulous payer. The utility company notifies the gas suppliers of the event in a day.

Gazprom team works
If the residents have debt for gas supply, the gas supply will be restored only after the debtor pays the accumulated amount for the used fuel

If such a situation occurs, the tenant is obliged to repay all his debts in order to restore the fuel supply. And not only that: he will have to pay the cost of trimming and tapping into the gas system, fines and other forfeits.

After the subscriber pays the receipts for disconnection and connection to the gas system, he has the right to reconnect to the gas pipeline.

It will take three days to restore the gas supply. One day, experts check whether everything is in order in the apartment with gas equipment, it takes two days to connect to the gas supply.

Option number 2 - without warning

If there is a gas leak, then gas workers can urgently turn off the tap on the entire apartment building. After all, this carries a danger to all residents of a high-rise building. This is the only reason it is allowed to turn off the gas supply.

Gas equipment check
When carrying out all kinds of scheduled repair work, gas supplying organizations can cover the gas for no more than four hours per month

In other situations, such as: debts, the inability to check all gas appliances, because the owner of the apartment was not at this time, the company does not have the right to cut off an apartment or house from gas supply without notice.

And if this happens, each subscriber needs to know that when the gas is turned off without warning, the consumer has the legal right to contact lawyers. In some cases, after litigation, gas companies not only connect the gas supply for free, but also reimburse moral, material costs.

If maintenance is delayed, then for hours of lack of gas above the norm, the amount of payment for natural fuel by subscribers is reduced by 0.15 percent.

Illegal shutdown of gas
Turning off the gas supply without warning also has a place to be. They cut off the supply of a resource when they detect all kinds of malfunctions in the gas supply system

So, the residents have no debts, and there is no gas in the house, and no one knows the reason for this.

Then do the following:

  1. Check all the taps in the apartment, they must be closed so that when the fuel is restored, no emergency situations occur.
  2. Notify the neighbors about the disconnection of natural gas, let them also block their valves in the apartment and check the gas appliances.
  3. Contact your emergency gas service at 104. Notify operators of the problem.
  4. You can also find out in the management company why there is no gas supply in the house.

You can find out the reason for disconnecting natural gas in an apartment or an apartment building, by calling the dispatcher to the gas service: 104 from a mobile or 112.

When emergency situations arise, the repairmen must carry out their elimination within one day, and the fuel supply is restored within 48 hours.

Option number 3 - on request

Decree No. 549, paragraph 51 states that the user of gas resources may refuse natural fuel on his own initiative. After all, there are all sorts of situations in life.

Repairmen plugged the gas pipe
To refuse gas supply, it is necessary to pay all debts on fuel consumed, as well as to cover all costs associated with disconnecting from the gas pipeline

The most common reason for the rejection of a centralized gas supply is the change of gas stove to electric. In this case, it is necessary to provide receipts to the gas supplying organization confirming the absence of debt from the subscriber; the tenant also pays all expenses associated with cutting the gas pipe in the apartment.

After that, an act on the shutdown of the equipment is drawn up, which, together with a written statement, the consumer should include in the territorial division of Gazprom LLC.

Conclusions and useful video on the topic

The video posted below will help to better reveal the topic of shutting off gas supply to debtors. In the video you can see an example of improper operation of gas appliances:

Gas supply systems should always be operational, which is why, for the safety of users of natural resources, they sometimes carry out preventive maintenance and repair work.

For responsible work of gas service specialists and gas supply to apartments and houses, it is necessary to pay a fee on time to subscribers. When this does not happen, violators are punished. Therefore, do not allow debts for gas and you will not have any special problems with gas supply.

Below in the block, please write about what problems you encountered in this issue, and how they were solved. Your valuable recommendations will help other visitors to our portal to resolve such issues.

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Visitors Comments
  1. Elena

    According to the Order of Siluanov No. 259n, all housing and communal services expenses have already been paid from the federal budget until 2025 inclusive! It's a shame not to know!

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