Entire apartment block left without electric power and heating in Eastern Finland UPDATED 30.9.

Building's Spanish owner has bills outstanding

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Some residents in a block of flats on Pasurintie in Siilinjärvi in Northern Savo experienced a curious Wednesday morning.
      It is probable they did not wake up to the usual dulcet sounds of their radio alarm clock, and if they found their way to the bathroom in the darkness, they discovered at the latest at this point that something was amiss, when the water ran cold in the taps.
      The local energy utility had cut off the distribution of electricity and heating, as the owner of the building has failed to pay the power bills for a long period.
     
On Wednesday evening the power supplier reconnected electricity to the building, and on Thursday the heating was also turned back on.
      ”We decided to continue to supply heating and electricity to the house for the time being, in order that the residents will not be put in an unliveable situation”, says head of debt collection Pekka Oikarinen from the local electricity supplier Savon Voima.
     
The owner of the property is a Spanish investor, to whom the electricity bills - based on the readings of the building’s only electricity meter - have been sent regularly.
      The charges for the residents’ electricity and water consumption are included in the rent taken from tenants.
      In the course of the summer, Savon Voima negotiated the unpaid bills with the owner’s Finnish representative by e-mail.
      The representative was notified of the cut-off of the power supply in advance.
      ”We are surprised that the owner of the property has not reacted to the matter in any way”, Oikarinen notes with some understatement.
      The local daily Savon Sanomat was the first to report on the situation in the apartment building.
     
On Thursday, the atmosphere in the Pasurintie 2 apartment block was uncertain. The residents had electricity, but for how long?
      ”Nobody knows anything about anything. Should the building be evacuated or not?” asks one of the residents, Alpo Jäntti.
      Jäntti has even applied for a council apartment, but he is not eligible to have one, as he has a valid rental agreement. Nor are there any apartments available.
     
”It should be easier to supply electricity and heating to this building than to arrange new homes for all”, says another resident Seppo Malila.
      Currently, nine apartments of the building have tenants. Malila says that the residents are unemployed and retired people, some of them being elderly and physically disabled.
      ”There must be some sort of resolution to the problem. The residents cannot be abandoned. We cannot just go outside to grill sausages”, Malila argues.
     
According to the residents, the house currently has no manager. The former manager warned them of a potential cut-off, but he has not been in charge of the building for a year.
      According to Pekka Takkinen, the acting municipal manager of Siilinjärvi, the municipality does not pay the unpaid bills of a private investor.
      He sees the municipality’s role as a background support to facilitate the reaching of a settlement so that the distribution of electricity could continue. Discussions have been conducted with the different parties involved.
      ”The residents themselves would primarily be responsible for the payments of their electricity, while the municipality could act as a guarantor”, Takkinen suggests.
      Ilpo Eerola from the Central Union of Tenants says that the Pasurintie case is a very rare example.
      ”If a landlord does not meet his or her obligations, a tenant is entitled to a reduction in rent or to the termination of the contract”, Eerola notes.
      Eerola notes further that if the electricity supply cannot be secured, the municipality will have to act rapidly.
      "According to the law, the municipality is responsible for its residents. As the winter is coming, these matters cannot be delayed too long”, he added.
     
     
UPDATED, Sept. 30th, 2009:
     
      At the time of the original article (25.9.2009), Helsingin Sanomat were unable to reach the owner of the building in question. She was contacted shortly afterwards.
      The electricity and heating were restored to the property after slightly less than 24 hours.
      However, the Spanish owner of the house on Pasurintie in Siilinjärvi has still not paid the electricity bill, but rather the distribution of mains electricity and heating to the property is currently completely dependent on the mercies of the Savon Voima utility.
      The company is at present negotiating over the unpaid invoices with the owner, Maria Isabel Romero.
     
Romero expressed her regrets to Helsingin Sanomat over the difficult situation caused to the residents and reported that she had paid the property's electricity bills in the course of the past months.
      She also believed that it was possible she had not received all the outstanding invoices.
      Romero further suspected that there may be some people living in the building who are not paying rent, in addition to the official tenants.
     
On Tuesday (29.9.) Savon Voima were hopeful that an amicable settlement could be worked out with Romero.
      If no such agreement is forthcoming in the next few days, the heating and electricity will go off once again.
      "We cannot supply free electricity. The residents are not responsible in any shape or form, but they are the ones left in an awkward position here", said Pekka Oikarinen from Savon Voima's debt collection unit.
      The municipality of Siilinjärvi has for its part said it would be ready to act as a guarantor if the situation requires that new electricity agreements have to be made directly with the residents of the apartment block.
      The housing situation in Siilinjärvi also seems a bit brighter, and the municipal manager Pekka Takkinen stated that it might now be possible to find alternative accommodation for the tenants if it comes to that.


Links:
  The Central Union of Tenants

Helsingin Sanomat