The rule that will put an end to central heating will enter into force within a yearin May 2023. The measure, ordered by Brussels in 2012, aims to reduce the consumption and that each home pays for the heat it uses, so the communities of owners have to install individual counters or cost allocators. A Coruña, which is part of climate zone C, has two deadlines: that of buildings with more than 20 homes, which must make the change before March 1, 2023, and that of buildings with less than 20 homes. , whose term expires on May 1, 2023. The rule affects buildings built before 1998, since buildings after that year were already required by law to have this facility.
“Communities of owners they should have already requested a quote to be able to do the work within the deadlines set & rdquor ;, informs the vice president of the College of Property Administration of Galicia, Carmela Lavandeira, who assures that “although they are not the majority, there is a significant number of buildings in the city & rdquor; that they will have to adapt to this regulation. “Some have already made the transformation before, but there are quite a few left & rdquor ;, she details.
In this way, buildings with central heating will have to install an individual meter on each floor that measures exact consumption or, if this is not feasible, cost allocators that work on each radiator. “Now, the owners with central heating have no way of measuring what each one spends, they pay equally. It seeks to avoid that and that each owner pays what he gets” explains Lavandeira.
And there is another important issue: consumption. “In many of these houses, the heating is so high that to make it cooler, the window is opened. And it can happen the other way around. That before the central heating is turned on, it’s cold and you want to put it on and you can’t. That each one regulates and pays by cost & rdquor ;, reflects the vice president of the College of Property Administration of Galicia.
Who should assume this change? The communities of owners will pay for the installation of meters or cost allocators which, according to Carmela Lavandeira, “are devices that measure the individual consumption of each radiator”.
Both the installation companies and the administrators are already transferring to the owners the need to undertake this action. “It is mandatory to comply with it & rdquor ;, he warns. The finesIn fact, they range from one thousand to 10,000 euros. Lavandeira recalls that this affects “especially old buildings, from the 80s and 90s” since in 1998 the regulations of the Regulation of Thermal Installations in Buildings and their Complementary Technical Instructions were approved, which forced new buildings to have a system that would allow the distribution of expenses corresponding to each supply. However, there are exceptions. Not all homes with central heating will have to make the conversion. The norm indicates that in the buildings in which the consumption meters must be adapted to the new law is not technically or economically viable they will not have to do it. This is if the investment in the works is not profitable, that is, if it is not recovered within four years, or if the works do not lead to savings. “When the standard was made, it was calculated that 5% of the buildings in climate zones C, D and E would be exempt from complying with the standard. But that percentage is increasing & rdquor ;, alert.
The regulations require a report justifying whether or not the building meets the conditions for not undertaking the change. “Probably the regional administration is going to ask more complete reports to prove it”, warns Lavandeira. And he sends a message to the owners who find themselves in this situation: “Buildings cannot ask for the report to be done and that’s it. It must be presented in the registry together with a statement from the president of the community claiming to be responsible for the report. All of this must be registered. It is important, since there are many communities that are not doing it & rdquor ;.
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The vice-president of the College of Property Administration of Galicia also points out that “the rule also establishes the Obligation of reading of accountants”. “All those that have been installed as of August 7, 2020 must have remote reading, something that will be mandatory as of 2027, so the old ones will have to adapt & rdquor ;, he comments, remembering that this will end the “ go look at the meter to do the calculation & rdquor ;.
The end of central heating is a regulation that, despite the fact that Brussels ordered it a decade ago, still generates debate. There are owners who defend that this system is more profitable and others who are in favor of the decree, especially those who use less heating but who pay the same as the rest.