Water submetering allows multifamily owners, property managers and landlords to effectively recover utility costs by ensuring residents are billed only for their actual water usage.
What is Electric Submetering?
Electric submetering is a billing system where individual meters measure and monitor the electricity use of individual units in any type of multifamily or commercial property. This submetering system involves installing individual meters in each unit or tenant space. This allows property owners, landlords or managers to accurately track each unit’s power usage and allocate electric utility costs accordingly.
These systems ensure that each tenant is paying their fair share of the electric bill so that property owners aren’t paying out of pocket for resident utilities. Electric submetering systems help property owners and landlords promote responsible water use and reduce overall water consumption.
Why Use an Electric Submetering Company?
Electric submetering is extremely complex. From system design and submeter installation through meter reading, billing and collections, it’s not something property owners, managers or landlords should take on themselves. At Synergy, we offer decades of experience creating and maintaining electric submetering systems that increase NOI and offer residents greater control over their utility bills.
With Synergy, landlords can focus on their day-to-day operations without worrying about the intricacies of electric billing. Our team handles meter reading (either in person or via a network connection), individual billing, reporting and analytics. We offer flexible billing and payment options, a responsive helpdesk for landlord and resident questions, fast remittance and more.
How Electric Submetering Helps Residents
Electric submetering reduces utility costs for residents by allowing them to take control of their own consumption and costs. Without submetering in place, residents are often charged an unfair percentage of their building’s total electric consumption. Individually calculated utility bills divide the electric bill far more equitably, increasing utility cost recovery, keeping residents happier and improving tenant renewal rates. Additionally, top-tier submetering and utility billing companies offer premium features like online account access, credit card payments and paperless billing, giving residents an enhanced level of service.
Submetering has also been shown to reduce overall utility consumption by as much as 35%. This results in cost savings for both residents and landlords as well as a positive effect on the environment.
Electric Submetering vs. Ratio Utility Billing
A utility billing company like Synergy can determine individual gas bills in two ways: traditional submetering and ratio utility billing, or RUBS.
With submetering, individual meters are used to read each unit’s exact electric consumption. This is the most common choice for a new multifamily construction, but it is also possible to retrofit existing buildings with electric submeters.
RUBS billing does not require the use of individual submeters. RUBS divides overall costs by using a set formula, taking into account factors such as unit size, layout, number of occupants, number of bathrooms, common area deductions and more.
Is submetering or RUBS right for your property? Contact our experts to find out.
How Does Electric Submeter Installation Work?
Installing electric submeters is a large undertaking, and it requires the help of a licensed electrician. Some general steps in the process include:
- Assessing the property’s electrical system to determine the location of the meters
- Selecting the right electric submeter for the property
- Wiring the connections and making sure every meter is getting a proper read
Working with a utility billing company like Synergy can ensure that you’re working with highly-rated licensed installation professionals. Plus, we can advise you on the meter types that will work best for your property.
How Does Electric Submeter Installation Work?
As a boutique submetering and utility billing consultation firm, Synergy Utility Billing designs, deploys and maintains custom electric submetering solutions. These include both traditional utility submetering, with individual meters measuring each unit’s power usage, as well as RUBS billing, which distributes electric costs mathematically by unit occupancy, square footage, and numerous other factors. Our team has experience dealing with varying submetering regulations from coast to coast, making us ideally suited to manage electric billing for clients with multistate portfolios
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It’s time to start working with a different kind of utility billing company. When you partner with Synergy, you get unparalleled responsive service that improves NOI, improves property value and unlocks insights that legacy RBCs simply can’t match.
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