national multiple family submetering and allocation billing program ...

Table 4.10 Who bills residents for water, manager survey respondents
Who bills the residents for
water usage at this
property?
No one – in-rent or HOA
dues
Third party billing service
In-rent
(or
HOA)
Submetered
RUBS
Hot
water
hybrid Other Total
91.4% 3.1% 7.0% 3.7% 33.3% 62.6%
0.5% 44.9% 60.2% 77.8% 16.7% 19.3%
company
Owner or manager 1.8% 29.9% 27.0% 7.4% 33.3% 10.2%
Local utility 1.7% 18.9% 2.7% 7.4% 0.0% 3.8%
Other 3.3% 2.4% 2.7% 3.7% 16.7% 3.2%
Don't know 1.2% 0.8% 0.4% 0.0% 0.0% 1.0%
100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Total
N=815 N=127 N=256 N=27 N=6 N=1231
Impact property managers were asked how long the current billing system had been in
place. Submetered properties were more likely to have been submetered since development of
the property (47%), while only 12% of RUBS and 21% of hot water hybrid properties had used
these billing systems since property construction. For most of the converted properties where the
managers reported the date, the conversion happened recently, within the last 5 years (83%).
When asked whether residents had complained when the new billing system was put in place,
more managers of RUBS (61%) or hot water hybrid properties (47%) reported experiencing
resident complaints compared to submetered properties (22%). Among submetered properties,
the expense was the most common complain reported (50%). Expense was also a common
complaint among RUBS (61%) and hot water hybrid properties (63%), but residents were even
more likely to complain about the perceived inequity of the systems (RUBS, 66%; hot water
hybrids, 88%). These results are presented in Figure 4.11 and in Table 4.11.
83