Separation from the communal heating system

End customers of heating can separate from their building’s communal heating system with a shared meter

End customers of heating with a shared metering device can separate from their communal heating system if they meet the following requirements: 

1. They have to obtain written consent for their separation from the heating system pursuant to the decision reached by a majority of the building co-owners’ votes, which majority is calculated based on the ownership shares, and not on the number of co-owners in the building.
2. Having obtained the consent from item 1, the authorised representative of co-owners is obliged to certify and deliver the written consent for separation from the communal heating system to the customer. 
3. The work on the separation of the end customer’s building unit from the communal heating system is considered simple work, which may be done without a location permit and acts authorising construction, in accordance with the main design created by an authorised engineer.
4. The work on the separation of the building unit from the communal heating system may be done by a contractor which meets the requirements for carrying out such activities pursuant to a special act.
5. After the contractor completes the work on the separation of the building unit from the communal heating system, the contractor is obliged to draw up a report on the work done and provide a written statement confirming that the work was done in accordance with the main design and professional rules for such work.
6. After the work on the separation of the building unit from the communal heating system has been completed and inspected, the main design engineer is obliged to provide a statement confirming that the work was done in accordance with the main design and professional rules for such work.
7. The contractor’s and design engineer’s statements are kept by the building manager and they are obliged to notify the heating supplier of the separation of the building unit from the communal heating system.
8. Once the separation process has been completed, the heating supplier needs to be notified of this. The reporting and delivery of documentation from the last item (no. 7) is the obligation of the heating customer (the heating customer is a natural or legal person which on behalf of and for the owners and/or co-owners of the building carries out the activity of a heating customer, which is regulated by Article 11 of the Heat Market Act).

Notwithstanding the fact that they have been separated from the building’s district heating system, the separated end customers are still obliged to pay all costs pertaining to their building unit, except for the heating costs.

Separation of end customers affects the distribution to and billing of the heating for all end customers in the building, which should be taken into account when deciding on giving separation of or giving consent to other co-owners for separation.

Disconnecting the building

A building can be disconnected from the heating system if the authorised representative of co-owners submits an application for this pursuant to previously obtained consent of all end customers connected to the shared heat meter for separation of all building units in the building and to prior consent of the heating distributor and supplier.

Before making the decision on disconnecting their building from the district heating system, co-owners should carefully consider various options of reconstruction or replacement of the building’s heating installations. When doing this, it is not enough to compare future estimates of monthly energy costs—instead, costs of equipment installation, maintenance costs over several years, construction work to be done on the building and individual building units, chimney reconstruction, modifications to the connections to the electricity and gas networks, potential changes in energy prices, etc. should also be taken into account.