Heat metering in a condominium: legal obligations

Heat metering is mandatory in every condominium served by a central heating system or by a district heating network. The obligation stems from Legislative Decree 102/2014, which transposed European Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency, and requires measuring the thermal energy actually consumed by each dwelling, so that costs can be split according to real consumption and not only by thousandths (millesimi). The condominium manager is the person responsible for promoting compliance and bringing the matter before the owners' meeting.

What heat metering means

Metering heat means fitting the system with devices that measure how much thermal energy reaches each apartment. In a building with a single boiler, everyone draws heat from the same plant: without meters it is impossible to know who consumes more. Metering turns a technically shared service into an individual one, correcting the paradox whereby a resident who keeps the radiators off would pay the same as one who runs them at full power.

Metering goes hand in hand with thermoregulation, that is, the ability of each owner to adjust the temperature of their radiators through thermostatic valves. The two measures are usually carried out together, because measuring consumption without being able to control it would have little practical value.

Which systems are subject to the obligation

The obligation applies to buildings supplied by a central heating source or by district heating, where installing the metering systems is technically feasible and economically efficient. This includes:

• Condominiums with a central boiler serving several dwellings
• Buildings connected to an urban district heating network
• Central systems that also produce domestic hot water for the whole building

Exemptions are allowed only where installation proves technically impossible or not cost-effective compared with the expected energy savings. In such cases the impossibility must be documented by a qualified technician in a report, which the manager keeps to protect the condominium.

Direct and indirect metering

There are two measuring methods. Direct metering uses heat meters installed on the inlet pipe of each dwelling and measures energy directly in kWh: it is mainly suited to systems with horizontal distribution and a single entry point per apartment. Indirect metering instead uses heat cost allocators fitted to each radiator, which estimate consumption based on the temperature of the heating element and the room: this is the typical solution for systems with vertical risers, common in older buildings.

Deadlines and remote reading

The obligation to equip dwellings with metering and thermoregulation systems was originally set by law at 31 December 2016, then postponed to 30 June 2017. Condominiums that had not yet complied are still required to do so. More recent rules also introduced the requirement that installed devices be readable remotely, with a compliance path completed by 2027: older meters and allocators not fit for remote reading will gradually be replaced with models that allow readings without physically entering the apartments.

Penalties for a non-compliant condominium

Anyone who fails to install the metering and thermoregulation systems required by law is subject to an administrative fine ranging from 500 to 2,500 euro. Beyond the direct penalty, non-compliance creates a cost-allocation problem: without meters it is not possible to divide expenses by actual consumption as the law requires, and resolutions based solely on thousandths risk being challenged. The manager therefore has every interest in putting compliance on the agenda and collecting quotes.

The role of the condominium manager

It falls to the manager to convene the meeting to approve installation, gather quotes, coordinate technicians and keep the documentation: feasibility reports, plant logbook, minutes. Each year the manager must also collect the readings and turn them into a correct cost split, separating the fixed share from the consumption share. These are recurring tasks best tracked with management software.

AmministraPro helps the manager keep control of deadlines, meter readings and heating cost allocation, with tables that automatically separate the fixed share from the consumption share. To see how to organise the technical and accounting management of the system, browse the features on /funzioni and choose the plan that suits your practice on /prezzi.