How did the electricity bill accumulate? By reporter Xiao Lei. Ms. Wang's situation was still manageable, but Mr. Zhu, who lived on the top floor, the 11th floor, had more trouble. "Once the elevator stops, I don't even dare to go out. Climbing down 11 floors would make my old bones fall apart. Now it's only been off for a day, and there are still enough supplies at home. But if it stops for a few more days and we run out of rice, oil, and vegetables, I guess I'll have to ask my son, who works in the city, to come back." Mr. Zhu told the reporter.
As for this power outage in the community, Director Chen stated that only 300,000 yuan of the 400,000 yuan electricity bill from last year has been paid. With additional public electricity usage, in the blink of an eye, nearly 240,000 yuan is owed again. "When the power company said they were going to cut off the power, we stepped in to coordinate with them, hoping they could delay it. Ultimately, considering humanitarian factors, the power company only cut off the elevator power supply, while public lighting and pressurized water pumps related to residents' daily lives remained operational."
The neighborhood elevators stopped due to power outage. After receiving the tip-off, around 2 PM on February 17, I rushed to this neighborhood located on Fuxing Road in Pukou District. This is a commercial housing complex delivered in four phases starting at the end of 2005. The overall condition of the neighborhood is still relatively new. However, as soon as I entered the neighborhood, I saw such a notice at the gate: As of February 8, 2012, your community still owes 239,702.5 yuan (excluding electricity bill late fees) in public electricity charges. Given the long-term arrears of public electricity charges in your community, which amount to a large sum, our company will terminate power supply to your community's delinquent meters according to the provisions of the Electricity Law and Regulations on Power Supply and Use, and the public electricity part of the community will be powered off. The notice was signed by Nanjing Power Supply Company's Pukou Business Department, dated February 9, 2012.
Why are the homeowners unwilling to pay the public electricity charges and property management fees? I got the answer from Director Chen of the Property Management Office of Yanjiang Street in Pukou District. "The previous property management company of Jiang'an Shuicheng Community was Mingcheng Property Management Company. After April last year, because of conflicts within the community's owners' committee, the contract between the community and the property management company expired and was not renewed. From then on, Mingcheng Property stopped collecting fees that need to be shared. Until November, when Mingcheng Property left Jiang'an Shuicheng, the entire community had already accumulated 400,000 yuan in unpaid public electricity charges. At that time, the power company was about to cut off the community's public electricity supply. After our coordination, Mingcheng Property contributed 50,000 yuan, the new Wan Yuan Property contributed 100,000 yuan, and the street office advanced 100,000 yuan for the community, thus avoiding a power outage. Later, Wan Yuan Property also contributed another 50,000 yuan," Director Chen described.
Emerging Issue: Elevator shutdown forces tens of thousands of residents to climb stairs
After entering the residential building, I found that all the elevators were out of service due to the power outage. Some elevator doors were even open during the power outage. A resident, Ms. Wang living on the third floor of Building 41, told me that the elevator was shut down on the afternoon of February 16th. "After the Spring Festival, the property management collected 200 yuan for public electricity charges, saying it was for the second half of last year. I heard that many people didn't pay. But I did pay, so isn't it a waste now that the elevator can't be used? Luckily, I live on the third floor, so climbing the stairs isn't too bad, but I feel like I wasted the money I paid."
Reason for Power Outage: Public electricity charges not collected by old property management, new property management collects only 20%
From the property management company of the community, Jiangsu Wanyuan Property Management Co., Ltd., I learned that the company received only 20% of the public electricity charges for the second half of last year, and simply did not have the ability to pay the public electricity charges that should have been paid by the residents.
Street-level intervention plans to establish a neighborhood management committee
So why does the property management company owe public electricity charges? I found Mr. Hong, director of the Jiang'an Shuicheng property management office of Jiangsu Wanyuan Property Management Co., Ltd. Director Hong said that the reason for the arrears of public electricity charges is that they simply cannot collect them. "The community started delivery in 2005, and the previous property management company was Nanjing Mingcheng Property Management Co., Ltd. Our company took over the community in December last year. At that time, the previous property management company had already accumulated 400,000 yuan in arrears of public electricity charges with the power supply company, and also took away all the parking fees and decoration service fees previously collected, leaving us with a mess. In addition to the money, all the surveillance cameras in the community were broken, and half of the security doors were also broken. We have already prepaid 150,000 yuan in two installments for the electricity, and now we really do not have the financial resources to continue prepaying."
After the Spring Festival, Director Hong began arranging for employees to collect the public electricity charges for the second half of last year from the residents. "Depending on the floor level, each household is charged between 150 to 200 yuan. But so far, among the more than 2700 households and tens of thousands of residents, only about 20% of the residents have paid. The money collected is simply not enough, so we can only pay as much as we collect. Now, except for a few units where the public electricity charges have been fully paid, most of the dozens of elevators in the community have been shut down. As for this year's property management fee, only about 10% has been collected. Now, even the operation of the company is difficult, let alone repairing surveillance equipment and security doors."
Behind-the-scenes issues: Lack of trust between property management and homeowners leads to inability to collect fees
With numerous conflicts in the community, how can these problems be resolved? Director Chen stated that public electricity is used by the residents of the community, and ultimately, the residents of the community must bear the cost. "There are more than 2700 households and tens of thousands of residents in the community. If a new owners' committee is elected, more than half of the owners must participate. It's clearly impractical for thousands of people to meet simultaneously, nor can it solve the immediate needs of the community. Now we have already started working together with the community where the community is located, as well as the police station, plus the community owners, forming a four-party joint community management committee to serve the function of the owners' committee. Among the community owners, the main members are the temporary working group members and the building captains of each building. Other owners who wish to participate can also register. If there are many owners willing to participate, we will conduct elections within this range. As for those owners who do not wish to register, since they do not care about the affairs of their own community, after the establishment of the management committee, it can sign a formal property management contract with Wan Yuan Property, solving Wan Yuan Property's concerns. Meanwhile, the management committee will promote among the residents to remind them to pay various reasonable fees. Regarding the funds taken away by Mingcheng Property when they left the community and the refusal of the original owners' committee chairman to return the seal, the management committee will negotiate with them. Since the management committee includes government department members and no property company members, I believe its credibility will be much better."
April 2011: Conflicts between the community owners' committee and the original property management company led to the non-renewal of the Mingcheng Property contract
December 2011: Temporary working group signed a new property management company, Wan Yuan Property, but the contract was not standardized
February 16, 2012: Due to property management issues, the entire community's elevators were shut down
Recently, Nanjing citizen Mr. Xing contacted our news hotline 025-96096 to report: "I am a resident of the Jiang'an Shuicheng community in Pukou District. Due to property management issues, the public electricity charges in our community have not been fully collected, resulting in all the elevators in the community being shut down."