Energy saving in apartment buildings: digital transformation and the adaptation of classical private law institutions

Relevance. The digital transformation of the housing and utilities sector conflicts with traditional private law institutions, the norms of which regulate property, management, and liability relations in apartment buildings.

Purpose to identify the main problems in the field of private law regulation of relations arising in the field of energy conservation in apartment buildings in the context of digitalization, and to formulate approaches to improving the legal instruments for their resolution.

Objectives: to evaluate the application of energy performance contracts in the housing sector; to identify risks to property owners' rights in the digital environment; to correlate public energy conservation standards with corporate decision-making procedures; to propose an adaptation of civil law doctrine and judicial practice.

Methodology. The study is based on dialectical and systemic methods, a formal legal analysis of civil and housing legislation, and judicial practice.

Results. It has been revealed that the classic management contract, as well as existing models of energy service contracts applied to apartment buildings, do not create economic incentives for the management organization to make long-term investments in energy efficiency. In the area ofdisputes over bringing to civil liability, new types of harm are emerging: technological, economic, harm to privacy. A critical problem of corporate governance has been identified: the current interpretation of Article 36 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation requires the consent of 100% of owners for any, even targeted and improving, impact on common property, which hinders energy saving initiatives.

Conclusions. The following are substantiated: (a) the need to legalize standard terms of energy service contracts for apartment buildings; (b) consideration of aggregated anonymized smart metering data as an integral part of technical documentation for apartment buildings, the right to use which should belong to the owners of the premises; (c) the need for the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to develop criteria for delineating actions on the use of common property that require unanimity and a qualified majority, taking into account energy efficiency goals.

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