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quantitative aspects of separate billing. The data are also useful for examining the impacts of the 1992 Energy Policy Act plumbing standards and other factors that may influence water use. It is anticipated that the database of submetered and allocated billing program information developed for this study will be a resource for researchers and planners to explore for years to come, particularly if it is maintained and updated. TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS OF BILLING METHODS The following terms and definitions are used throughout this report. In-Rent Properties In-rent properties refer to all properties where the owner does not separately bill residents for water and wastewater. A slight variation of this standard “in-rent” arrangement can occur when there is a homeowners association (HOA) at a property that collects flat monthly fees. Impact Properties Impact properties refer to all properties that bill separately for water and/or wastewater by submetering, ratio utility billing systems, or a hybrid of the two. Within these different billing methods, the party actually billing for water needs to be defined. The owner refers to either an individual or an organization that owns and/or manages a rental property. A third-party billing service company (billing company) is a private, for-profit entity that provides billing services for water, wastewater, trash collection, and energy to owners of multi-family properties. A utility is a regulated provider of water and/or wastewater service to a set of customers. Utilities may be public or private entities and they are responsible for treating, delivering, and billing for water and/or wastewater. Submetering Submetering in this report is defined as full capture metering that occurs downstream of a water utility master meter. There are three different types of submetering that can occur: Single point of entry submetering Dual point of entry submetering Point-of-use submetering xviii
Hybrid Metering Hybrid metering, referred to as “hot water hybrid” (HWH) in this report, are billing systems where only a portion of the water such as the hot water consumption (or occasionally the cold water) for each unit in a multi-family dwelling is measured. This information is then typically used to extrapolate the total water bill. Ratio Utility Billing Systems Ratio utility billing systems (RUBS) use an allocation formula to estimate water consumption for each unit in a multi-family dwelling. RUBS systems are not based on the actual consumption at each unit, rather individual bills are prorated from the overall utility master meter bill based on one or a combination of quantitative measures such as square footage, number of occupants, or number of fixtures. RESEARCH APPROACH The project team developed a multifaceted approach to accomplish the research objectives set out for this study. 1. Selection of participating study sites: After invitations were sent to utilities and water providers across the United States and Canada followed by personal phone calls and contact, representatives from 13 study sites volunteered to participate and partially fund this research. These 13 participating water providers were: (1) Denver Water, Colorado; (2) Seattle Public Utilities, Washington; (3) City San Diego Water Dept., California; (4) Hillsborough County, Florida; (5) City of Phoenix, Arizona; (6) City of Tucson, Arizona; (7) City of Austin, Texas, (8) San Antonio Water System, Texas; (9) City of Portland, Oregon; (10) East Bay Municipal Utility District, California; (11) Irvine Ranch Water District, California; (12) City of Indianapolis, Indiana; and (13) Southern Nevada Water Authority & Las Vegas Valley Water District, Nevada. Participation required the utility to provide complete billing data for the multi-family subclass from their service area and project support. 2. Quality assurance and quality control (QAQC): Procedures to ensure the quality of the data and the research methods were implemented throughout the study. xix
Page 1 and 2: NATIONAL MULTIPLE FAMILY SUBMETERIN
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES............
Page 5 and 6: Matched-Pair Analysis .............
Page 7 and 8: LIST OF TABLES Table ES.1.1 Breakdo
Page 9: Table 6.6 Elasticity values, analys
Page 12 and 13: Figure 4.30 RUBS water bill #6 ....
Page 14 and 15: investigated local water savings as
Page 16 and 17: We are grateful to the members of a
Page 20 and 21: 3. Owner/postcard survey: To identi
Page 22 and 23: "averages" of impact property water
Page 24 and 25: in-rent properties, others used the
Page 26 and 27: of these models included the billin
Page 28 and 29: 70 Average Annual Water Use Per Uni
Page 30 and 31: COSTS AND BENEFITS Beyond quantifyi
Page 32 and 33: service charge, then the resident w
Page 34 and 35: Billing Method Efficient Fixtures?
Page 36 and 37: 70 Avg. Water Use per MF Unit (kgal
Page 38 and 39: REGULATORY FRAMEWORK REVIEW The fra
Page 40 and 41: Table ES.1.12 NSUAA Summary of Stat
Page 42 and 43: above, the researchers offer the fo
Page 44 and 45: service is preferable, and would he
Page 46 and 47: practices (BMPs) should be implemen
Page 48 and 49: infrastructure of the building and
Page 50: multi-family housing. The transfer
Page 53 and 54: CHAPTER 1 INTRODU CTION More and mo
Page 55 and 56: In 1998, 15.0%, or 15.4 million, of
Page 57 and 58: TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS OF BILL
Page 59 and 60: submetering. With utility-submeteri
Page 61 and 62: all the two bedroom units for $20 p
Page 63 and 64: HOW TO USE THIS REPORT This report
Page 67 and 68: CHAPTER 2 LITERAT URE REVIEW As the
Page 69 and 70:
A review of the literature unearthe
Page 71 and 72:
The price elasticity of water deman
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expected. Additionally, McClelland
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submetered and five control (in-ren
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Another study might want to target
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CHAPTER 3 RESEARC H METHODS, APPROA
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1. Selection of participating study
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STUDY SITE SELECTION The Study aime
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Figure 3.2 National Multiple Family
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Matched pair protocol/survey - conf
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information given the available bud
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survey. Service companies that prov
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in “business to business” calli
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MATCHED PAIR SAMPLE The purpose of
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The second part of the visit requir
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epresentative of a known population
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51 Table 3.7 Postcard survey statis
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Table 3.8 Comparison of annual wate
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postcard survey. Nevertheless, exam
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confidence interval ranged from 49.
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particular property (e.g., the mont
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State PUC officials - water commiss
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10. The PROPID number appearing on
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These costs represent the commodity
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The postcard survey provided inform
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Table 4.4 Average number of units f
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Two-thirds of the properties that r
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Percent of Surveyed Properties with
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$700 Average Rent Per Bedroom ($) $
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Percent of Surveyed Properties with
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Impact properties were also more li
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Table 4.8 Issues considered before
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Percent of Surveyed Impact Properti
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60% Percent of Surveyed Properties
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From the visits, it was found that
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100% Percent of Surveyed Residents
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Roughly similar proportions of resi
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inserts for toilets (21%) or low-fl
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proportion were unsure, 37% from su
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Table 4.18 Ownership and rental rat
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Figure 4.17 Submeter water bill #1
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Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
wastewater rates are not shown so t
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Figure 4.23 Hot water hybrid water
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RUBS Sample Bills Seven sample RUBS
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wastewater rates are not shown so t
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Figure 4.28 RUBS water bill #4 from
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Figure 4.30 RUBS water bill #6 RUBS
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directly to and then paid by the th
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never subtracting for common area w
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Late Fees At the start of water bil
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124
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intuitively clear, and matches comm
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Indoor water use was normalized on
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Table 5.3 Summarized water use anal
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easonable assumption since there is
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Figure 5.1 shows the frequency dist
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40 Difference in Annual Water Use p
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after 1995. By including only those
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70 Average Annual Water Use Per Uni
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Table 5.11 Statistical tests compar
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Factors that Influence Water Use Th
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Table 5.12 Association of categoric
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Indoor Water Use per Unit in 2001 I
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Table 5.13 Continuous factors from
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Multivariate Models to Determine Im
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properties built before 1995 were c
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70 Average Annual Water Use Per Uni
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A = Beta coefficient for “Propert
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substantially reduces the sample si
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Table 5.17 Model #2 coefficients an
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0.00 indicating that whatever fit d
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commodity charge for water and wast
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properties having generally lower w
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110 Average Annual Water Use Per Un
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analysis, intended to control best
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Table 5.27 Paired samples test, all
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Table 5.30 Estimated water use befo
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Table 5.33 Comparison of water savi
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180
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sector only reduced usage by 18% (A
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Table 6.1 Avoided costs from submet
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submetered. Complete responses of c
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included in this cost/benefit analy
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Table 6.3 Cost and benefit for owne
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Perceived Concerns In the resident
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With a service fee, residents could
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Table 6.4 Economic return for a res
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ANALYSIS OF PRICE ELASTICITIES Econ
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concluded that if a single elastici
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esults from this analysis point to
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over which they have control than d
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According to the basic consumer cho
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The consumer choice problem can be
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210
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water systems from compliance with
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and methods of practice. NIST publi
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Table 7.1 NSUAA Summary of State Re
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New Surveys of State Agencies and W
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the AWWA WaterStats 1999 database.
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Measures, which dispatches a public
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Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania
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226 Table 7.6 Summary of utility re
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DISCUSSION - KEY EXAMPLES OF STATE
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ill. Condominium associations are g
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under construction after January 1,
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Weights and Measures Regulation In
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from the submetering. Meter testing
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clean and decent housing or the lac
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240
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NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE F
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complaints in all 50 states and app
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- Meters must demonstrate in testin
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- Plumbing systems are space constr
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(2) Twisted or kinked flex supply l
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252
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Estimated Water Use By Different Bi
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there are clear benefits to these s
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study site. These values were then
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immediately strengthens the owner's
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among the nation's key strategies f
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all repair and replacement decision
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These findings underscore the obser
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varies with volume of use) for mult
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Recommendation 6 - Efficient plumbi
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financially responsible for their o
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individual unit, the volume allocat
Page 328 and 329:
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARC
Page 330 and 331:
Fixed rates - Part of a master mete
Page 332 and 333:
Total-capture submetering - a type
Page 334 and 335:
282
Page 336 and 337:
Corral, L.R. 1997. Price and Non-Pr
Page 338 and 339:
McClelland, L. 1980. Encouraging En
Page 340:
Young, C.E., K.R. Kinsley and W.E.
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