From 1 January 2027, the old meters of centrally heated condominiums will have to transmit consumption remotely. Let’s see who has to comply, what the decree provides, what is risked and how much it costs to bring the system into compliance.
For those who live in a condominium served by a centralized system there is a date to mark, that is January 1, 2027which is the deadline by which the old condominium energy consumption meters (those that still require reading by a technician) must be transformed into devices capable of transmitting data remotely or replaced with models that already do so.
This according to the measure introduced by legislative decree 14 July 2020, n. 73, which states that devices installed after 25 October 2020 must be already remotely readable, while older ones must be equipped with a transmission module or replaced by 1 January 2027.
Which systems are affected and need to be adapted: Legislative Decree 73/2020
From this date theremote reading obligation and the adaptation concerns condominiums and multipurpose buildings powered by district heating, district cooling or from common heating or cooling systems, including centrally produced domestic hot water. Independent systems and the electricity and gas meters of individual users, which the decree regulates separately, are excluded.
The purpose of remote reading is to give those who live in a condominium a overview of their consumption while the season And in progress. For this to happen the devices must transmit the given regularlyso that information on actual consumption reaches users at least once a month during the heating periods. At the same time, IT security, confidentiality and protection of condominiums’ personal data must be guaranteed, in line with Italian and European legislation.
What those who don’t do remote reading risk: fines
On the sanctions front, article 16 of decree 102/2014 provides fines of 500 to 2,500 euros for each property unit to be paid by the owner. The sanctions, however, are not explicitly linked to the obligation to remotely read paragraph 5-bis: instead, they affect those who do not install the accounting devices (paragraph 6) and the condominium that does not allocate expenses based on actual consumption (paragraphs 7 and 8). THE controls are the responsibility of the Regions or to the bodies delegated by them.
What are the costs and how to give up central heating
It is also true that it is not always necessary to proceed with the replacement of the system. Paragraph 5-bis requires that i existing systems they are equipped with devices which allow it to be read remotely and this leaves open the path of adaptation to establish which they may be updated And which go instead replaced with new generation models.
Only for the latter does it make sense to ask for quotes and, from a cost point of view, the law is quite clear. Paragraph 8-quater of article 9 establishes that the costs of accounting, allocation and calculation of actual individual consumption in condominiums and multipurpose buildings “may be invoiced to users to the extent that such costs are reasonable”. The indicative figures circulating among operators place the intervention at around 120-190 euros per radiatoran expense that is among those eligible for the renovation bonus, also for interventions on the common areas of the condominium.
Those who want to give up central heating can do so through a path already consolidated by the Court of Cassation, which provides that the individual owner renounces common heating without the consent of the condominium assemblyprovided that an appraisal demonstrates that it does not create imbalances in the system or increase costs for others, provided that he bears the costs for the construction of his own independent system and continues to pay the extraordinary maintenance and conservation fee for the common boiler, of which he remains a co-owner.
