By Catalina Nielsen


Water submetering involves installing meters into individual units within multifamily developments such as condominiums, apartment communities and mobile home communities among others. Typically, multi family properties have either a master meter for the entire development or one meter for each building. People living in the property are required to pay the water and sewer bill, which is usually divided evenly by the number of units within the property.

If a property has submeters, the expenses are divided based on the consumption in each unit. This is the fairest way to divide this expense because the residents pay for only what they consume. Submetering a property is beneficial in many ways. One of them is that it helps conserve water as residents will seek to consume less in order to lower their bills.

Another benefit is that property owners are able to see a reduction of expenses. Property owners normally incur high costs in water bills and they cannot to anything since the residents are the ones who control consumption. Once submeters have been installed, residents use water responsibly since they are expected to pay for the amount they consume. This is welcome for property owners who include utility costs in the rent.

Since residents will seek to reduce consumption, there will be less wastage and this is beneficial for the environment. According to federally granted studies, installing submeters in a property can reduce consumption by 20 to 30 percent since residents will report leaks and not let water run freely when it is not in use. Most tenants embrace submetering because they get rewarded for reducing consumption.

After installing submeters, the rates your tenants pay will change when the utility company changes its rates. This is beneficial in that it allows you to maintain your margins. You do not have to include the cost of utilities in your rental rate calculations. You can therefore even choose to lower the amount of money you charge as rent so that you can get more tenants.

To install submeters in your development, you need to look for a reputable company that specializes in this area. Such a company will inform you about the equipment you need to buy so that the system can start working. This includes meters, transmitters and reading equipment. The company may access every unit to install the equipment or install it outside the building.

After the equipment is installed, it is tested and the company that installed it will be responsible for reading the meters, disbursing the bills and collecting the payments. It will serve the role of managing the system in a similar manner to the way phone and electrical companies work. The company will also handle the questions and concerns of the residents.

Meter readers do not have to enter every unit to read the meters every month because the meters are often located in storage closets, basements or electrical closets in public halls. You will continue receiving your utility bill each month and your private water submetering company will bill the individual units. It will also provide every tenant with an individually printed bill.




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