About ensuring it is warm in winter.

      The Russian proverb goes: "Prepare the sled in summer, and the cart in winter!" You can't argue with folk wisdom! To ensure that the arrival of cold weather and frosts does not come as a surprise to life-support services, preparations for the heating season begin well in advance. But is the Uren district ready for the winter cold? We discuss this with the Deputy Head of the Administration of the Urensky Municipal District, Head of the Department of Capital Construction and Housing and Communal Services, Sergey Konstantinovich Gruzdev.

      – Sergey Konstantinovich, good afternoon! Today we'll talk about what concerns virtually all Uren residents. Will we enter the heating period without problems? By what date must preparations for the heating season be completed?

      – To enter the heating season without problems, thorough preparation is required. Preparation for the heating season is an important stage that ensures comfort and safety of living during the cold time of year. It is not just a formality but a necessity. The importance of preparation cannot be overstated. It is a set of measures that ensures the safety, reliability, economic efficiency, and durability of the entire heat-supply system, from the boiler house to the radiator in your apartment. With regard to housing stock facilities, preparation must be completed by September 15, 2025; for municipal utility facilities, by November 1, 2025; and for power generation facilities, by November 15, 2025.

      – Under what regulatory conditions does the heating season start? Often at the beginning of the heating season residents complain that they have to wait a long time before the temperature norm is reached and homes become cold. How would you comment on that?

      – It is important to note one key aspect here: heat is started not based on a specific calendar date but guided solely by weather conditions. The heating season begins when the average daily outdoor air temperature falls below +8°C and remains at that level for five consecutive days. The decision to start the season is made at the local level. Usually this happens from late September to mid-October. For example, last year we turned on the heating on October 4. At the same time, for the maximum comfort of residents we try to take their requests into account and may decide to start the heat earlier than the prescribed date.

      Moreover, the technology of bringing heat online is not a simple "flip a switch"; in reality it is a complex engineering process. As a rule, the start-up of the heating system takes several days. Heat is first supplied to children’s and medical institutions, then to apartment buildings, educational institutions and public buildings, and finally to industrial enterprises.

      – Please name the facilities planned for repair during preparation for the heating season, and what else is planned in this context?

      – During the repair campaign, heat-supplying organizations plan to install new equipment in two boiler houses, replace 300 meters of dilapidated heating networks, perform current repairs of about 500 meters of pipelines, replace external thermal insulation with a total length of about 800 meters, and repair 14 boilers and 4 heat chambers. All repair work is already in the final stages.

      Thus, LLC "Kommunservice" has installed an additional heating boiler of the Kvst-0.3 model in Boiler House No. 11 (Temta village, Molodyozhnaya St., 2a). The measures taken will improve the quality of heat supply to important social facilities — the House of Culture and the feldsher-midwife station. Also, in Boiler House No. 14 (Karpunikha village, Shkolnaya St., 24) new EKY/S pellet boilers have been installed — the school and the children's camp will become warmer and more comfortable.

      In addition, the contractor is currently replacing dilapidated heating networks on the premises of the State Healthcare Institution of the Nizhny Novgorod Region "Urensky Central District Hospital". The financing for this work is provided from the municipal district budget.

      – How is the process of reconstruction and modernization of boiler houses going in the district?

      – The heat-supplying organization LLC "Granit", within the approved investment program, is completing gasification works at the boiler house at: Uren, Kommunisticheskaya St., 86, room 1. This heat source serves a five-story residential building. To date, two gas boilers and pump equipment have already been installed, the boiler room premises have been refurbished, and the gas supply system installed. Commissioning work will be fully completed before the start of the 2025/2026 heating season. The reconstruction of the boiler house will undoubtedly significantly improve the quality of heat supply for the residents of the building.

      – How are things with social institutions? Are there problems, and what is being done to solve them? Uren residents are especially concerned about heating in kindergartens and schools in the district.

      – Social institutions, like other consumers of thermal energy, are carefully preparing for the heating season. All hospitals, schools, kindergartens and cultural institutions, if necessary, carry out repairs of the heating system, perform flushing and pressure testing. Special attention is paid to sealing the thermal circuit of buildings to prevent heat loss. Before the start of the heating season, all social facilities are inspected by a special commission for readiness to start the heat. This work is already being carried out by the district administration.

      – Is there a problem with residents' debts for heating services and how is it being addressed in the Uren district?

      – Budgetary and other organizations in the district have no overdue debt for consumed thermal energy.

      There is an acute problem with the indebtedness of residents of the district for the utility service "central heating." As of August 1, 2025, residents' debt to the district's heat-supplying organizations for heating amounts to more than 18 million rubles. It should be recalled that in accordance with Article 153 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, citizens and organizations are obliged to timely and fully pay for residential premises and utility services. In addition, in the event of late payment of housing and utility services, pursuant to paragraphs 14 and 14.1 of Article 155 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the debtor is required to pay a penalty.

      Heat-supplying organizations conduct continuous claims work to collect overdue receivables from the district's population.

      Payment discipline determines the stability of the housing and communal services enterprises.

      – One popular question from residents of apartment buildings in small settlements is: "Why are our heating rates higher? It's cheaper in the cities!"

      – Heating tariffs for consumers in the Nizhny Novgorod Region are set by the Regional Tariff Service of the Nizhny Novgorod Region in accordance with the requirements of current legislation, based on an application and the calculation and supporting materials provided by the heat-supplying organization. The tariff calculation is carried out in accordance with the Methodological Guidelines and is economically justified. The tariff is set for the organization as a whole for all boiler houses.

      – Of course, we don't want to think about the worst, but still. If an accident happens, how quickly will it be eliminated?

      – Specific times for elimination depend on the scale and location of the accident. For example, in the case of an emergency in the in-house system (risers, radiators), the regulatory elimination time ranges from 4 to 16 hours depending on the temperature in the living premises.

      In the event of a serious pipeline accident, crews depart immediately. The top priority is to localize the accident (shut off the section) within the first few hours to minimize consequences and begin restoration. The repair itself can take from 4 hours to 3 days depending on complexity and weather conditions.

      For rapid response, communal services always maintain a reserve of material and technical resources. In addition, drills are conducted with personnel to practice actions for eliminating emergency situations.

      – Where should one turn if it's cold at home?

      – If the whole building has no heating or the radiators are only slightly warm, the cause is in the supply heat main or the operation of the boiler house; to eliminate the problem you need to call the heat-supplying organization.

      If the radiators in your apartment are cold, while the riser is warm and your neighbors have no problems — most likely the cause is air trapped in the radiators or contamination by sludge. These problems can be handled by an employee of the management company or the homeowners' association (TSZh).

      And I would like to emphasize: in order to start the heating season on time, without disruptions and failures, residents need to carry out timely repairs of heating systems in their apartments and carefully monitor the condition of heating equipment when the heating system is started.

      And finally, I would like to note that summer is a time for repairs. Communal services put in a lot of effort every day to thoroughly prepare for the cold.

      Interviewed by Larisa Kabesheva