600,000 Ruble Debt Leaves Large Family in New Moscow Without Power
The Maryin family«s home in Shcherbinka, New Moscow.
The large Maryin family from Shcherbinka in New Moscow was suddenly left without light, heating, and hot water. They had paid their utility bills faithfully for about 15 years, but three months ago they were hit with a huge debt—over half a million rubles (about $5,500 at current rates). It turned out that Angelika Maryina, the mother of five children, had been incorrectly using the remote control to submit meter readings for four years, and the energy company, according to the family, did not check the meters« accuracy in a timely manner.
Meat that was stored in the freezer had to be hung outside.
As a result, the children were forced to sleep under multiple blankets, and to do homework or take a shower, they had to go to neighbors« houses. The head of the family, Vadim Maryin, asked Mosenergosbyt to give him an installment plan, as he didn»t have the money to pay the full debt, but the company initially refused. He only managed to achieve this after MSK1.RU made inquiries.
The Maryin family gathers in their home without electricity.
We visited the Maryin home and learned how the large family is surviving winter without electricity and how it happened that for four years no one informed them of incorrect utility bills.
Several heaters in the Maryin home are connected to a neighbor«s power supply.
Walking Around the House with Flashlights, Eating at Neighbors«, Sleeping Under Three Blankets
Remaining food is stored outside as the refrigerator defrosted.
Vadim Maryin is 53 years old and has five children, four of whom live with him and mother Angelika in a large two-story house in New Moscow, the city of Shcherbinka, for about 15 years now.
The aquarium with fish in the Maryin home struggles without filtration.
Since 15 January, Vadim, Angelika, and the children have been living without light, heating, or hot water. When you step inside the house, it«s impossible to take off your shoes in the hallway without using a phone flashlight. After somehow removing your shoes, you enter a dark room—there are very few windows in the house, and the winter daylight is short. The children have already grown accustomed to constantly turning on flashlights to go to the toilet, wash their hands, go to the kitchen, or climb the stairs.
A remote control that showed an error when used from inside the house.
The oldest child is 18 and studies at a technical college. The other children are between 7 and 13 years old. In this situation, Vadim Maryin worries most about the children: he fears that the lack of electricity will affect their health and school performance.
A debt of over 600,000 rubles appeared in the online account at the end of August.
«It became cold, uncomfortable. I go to the neighbors almost every day to do homework because there»s too little light here,« says the Maryins» 13-year-old son.
Vadim Maryin discusses the difficult situation with his family«s power supply.
While there is no electricity or hot water, all family members visit neighbors daily. Fortunately, Angelika«s daughter from her first marriage lives nearby and does not refuse to help her half-sisters and brothers. However, the young woman cannot shelter everyone because she is herself a mother of multiple children. Recently, her father died in the special military operation, so she had to urgently fly to Salavat with her infant and mother for the funeral.
A remote control designed for taking electricity meter readings from a distance.
A neighbor shares electricity with the family: they managed to run long wires to his property, to which Vadim connects several heaters. At night they work in the children«s bedrooms, but according to Tanya, it doesn»t help much:
«We»re still very cold when we sleep. I always sleep in a hoodie under several warm blankets,« the girl shared.
Vadim stores the food that was in the refrigerator outside in a box—here there is a pot of soup and meat hanging in a bag.
During the day, with the heaters running, the temperature in the house is 16°C (61°F), at night it drops even lower. You can stay without outer clothing for a maximum of an hour—then you freeze, so all the children walk around the house in warm jackets. The family«s pets—aquarium fish—suffer no less. Without electricity, the water filtration system doesn»t work, and due to lack of oxygen, the pets aren«t feeling their best.
Why Didn«t They Notice the Debt Accumulating?
Four years ago, the Maryin family had a meter installed on a pole and were given a remote control to take readings.
«Some guys came and said we had to install new meters, these were the conditions, you see,» Vadim recalled. «And this meter started showing as if I was using 150 kilowatts per day. Roughly speaking, that»s like if I turned on all the washing machines in the house and all other electrical appliances. At that rate, 3–4 rubles/kWh, my monthly bill came out around 35,000–55,000 rubles. I started going to the energy company to complain. They said then: «You pay first, and then we»ll sort it out. Otherwise we«ll come, and if you have two months of unpaid bills, we»ll cut your power.« I had 150,000 rubles at the time, I paid the debt. They looked at the meter and admitted it was faulty, replaced it. And about the 150,000 they said it would remain as a positive balance.»
Vadim«s wife, Angelika, was responsible for paying the utility bills. She used the remote control to take readings but never fully understood how it worked. To get the correct data from the remote, you had to go outside and approach the pole.
Angelika tried to take readings from the house window, so the remote, as was discovered much later, was showing an error or incorrect data. The woman was confident that the utility balance was still in the black, especially since her husband had deposited 150,000 there. So Angelika paid what the electricity used to cost—5–6 thousand rubles per month. However, one day the positive balance on the account ran out, and debt started accumulating.
«In September we saw a car arrive. People took the meter readings and charged us with 600,000 rubles (about $6,600) in debt for four years. They recalculated everything at the new rate. You see, before electricity was 3 rubles/kWh, and now it»s 11 rubles/kWh.«
At first Vadim didn«t believe in such a huge debt and called specialists to check the meter»s serviceability, as last time it also showed huge amounts and turned out to be broken. However, this time the debt was real.
«For two or three months we were only figuring out whether the meter was counting correctly or not, but we started making payments. We paid about 60,000 rubles then,» Vadim shared.
According to the Russian Government Decree No. 354 dated 06.05.2011 «On the Provision of Utility Services to Owners and Users of Premises in Apartment Buildings and Residential Buildings,» energy suppliers are required to check the condition of metering devices and take readings at least once every six months. The company, according to Vadim, did not do this, so the Maryin family learned about the problems with utility payments only four years later.
«I Want One Thing—For the Children Not to Be Hostages of the Situation»
In the Maryin family, only Vadim works; Angelika takes care of the house and children. The man admits that work is not going well at the moment:
«It»s probably been a year or two of complete silence,« the man said. »I had shoe stores in Moscow, but retail gradually died down. I tried myself in the construction business, bought plots in Crimea. But, unfortunately, these plots became subject to lawsuits. Accordingly, all the plots are frozen, and I«m paying money for court, for lawyers.»
Besides the utility debt, Vadim also has to pay 160,000 rubles for the house and 100,000 rubles for the car, as well as provide for five children. Maryin currently doesn«t have half a million to pay off the debt in full. Therefore, he insisted on an installment plan, which for some reason they didn»t want to give him. At Mosenergosbyt, Vadim was given a receipt stating they would only talk about an installment plan with him after he paid 50% of the debt.
«I don»t blame anyone for this, as there was negligence on our part too. If there«s a debt, it must be paid. The only thing I want is for the children not to be hostages of the electricity disconnection, for the power to be turned back on, for it to be warm, because it»s winter outside. Then we can calmly, either through the courts or in some other way, resolve the issue of this debt. Not like in the 90s, when they would put an iron on your stomach and say «you must repay the debt urgently.»«
For almost a week, Vadim sent letters and held dialogues with all possible authorities: Mosenergosbyt, Rosseti, the prosecutor«s office, the district administration, the State Housing Inspectorate. The man also turned to MSK1.RU with a request to highlight his problem. After MSK1.RU»s inquiry to Mosenergosbyt and Rosseti, the man was called and told they agreed to give him a 12-month installment plan to repay the debt. That same day, electricity reappeared in the Maryins« home.
Mosenergosbyt later stated that they acted within the law.
«In 2021, the consumer»s electric energy metering device was replaced,« the organization stated. »For a long period, readings from the new meter were not transmitted, which led to accruals based on substitute information. In 2025, as part of interagency cooperation, the network organization provided the energy supply company with current control readings of this metering device. This made it possible to establish the real volume of consumed electric energy.«
As reported by the resource-supplying organization, based on this data, a recalculation was made for the consumers in August 2025. The organization declined to comment on the power disconnection for the large family but confirmed the information about providing an individual installment plan.
«They called from the energy sales company, said they were ready to accept our terms and the guarantee letter,» Vadim reported. «I went, signed everything, arranged an installment plan for a year.»
