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Estimated Water Use By Different Billing Methods One of the central purposes of this study was to determine the water savings associated with submetered and allocation billing programs in multi-family housing. This research question was the over-arching theme for the entire project and a majority of time and effort was spent collecting and analyzing data to provide information on the potential water savings from submetering and RUBS. Why are water savings so important? Water providers are keenly interested in identifying effective approaches to reducing water demand, as new supplies become increasingly expensive and difficult to obtain. National and state agencies are interested in improving water efficiency and promoting proven methods for achieving savings. The utility billing industry has promoted the practice of charging multi-family customers for water and wastewater services not only as a way to improve property owners’ net operating income, but also as a way to effect water conservation. Water savings could provide justification for encouraging, promoting, and expanding billing programs and could unite water providers, regulators, and billing companies in a common goal. As a result there has been intense interest in this question. Submetering Submetering achieved statistically significant water savings of 15.3 percent (21.8 gal/day/unit) compared with traditional in-rent properties after correcting for factors such as year of construction (before 1995, 1995 or later), average number of bedrooms per unit, average rent, presence play areas, presence of cooling towers, average price charged for water and wastewater by the local utility, and classification of the property as a retirement community. Not all submetered properties used less water and the statistical model that demonstrated these savings predicted only about 25% of the variability in water use in the observed properties. Statistically significant savings from submetering was found in every single comparison and analysis conducted in this study. Water savings ranged from –5.55 to –17.5 kgal per unit per year, or – 15.20 to –47.94 gallons per unit per day (gpd) which is between -10.7% to -25.7% 40 . 40 It should be noted that through the site visits, it was found that 3 out of 20 properties visited (15%) had indicated on the manager survey that they were submetered, but were found to only be metering the hot water. Thus, the submetered sample is likely to contain some hot water hybrids. 254
RUBS Ratio Utility Billing Systems (RUBS) did not reduce water use by a statistically significant amount compared with traditional in-rent arrangements. The difference between water use in RUBS and in-rent properties was not statistically different from zero. While some RUBS properties used less water on average than in-rent properties, others used the same or more water on average than in-rent properties. Typically the 95 percent confidence interval for RUBS spanned a range that included an increase in expected water use as well as water savings. Statistically significant water use savings from RUBS were detected in only a single comparison test – the matched pair sample. The matched pair comparison relied on the smallest RUBS sample size in the study and, as explained in detail in the body of the report, and the in-rent control sample did not appear to be representative of the population of in-rent properties in the study. After correcting for a wide variety of factors and evaluating numerous different analytic models, the researchers concluded that no statistically significant impact from RUBS could be reliably expected. Hot Water Hybrid Hot water hybrid billing systems may achieve water savings, however in this study the sample of hot water hybrid properties was too small to produce reliable results that can be generalized to the broader population. Analysis of data from the limited sample of hot water hybrid properties does suggest that water savings, somewhat smaller than the magnitude found in submetering, may be achieved through this billing methodology. This study was unable to verify this finding of savings in a reliable, statistically rigorous manner because of the small sample size. It should be noted that during the site visits it was discovered that 15% of the hot water hybrid properties had been mislabeled by the managers as submetered. This indicates that HWHs may be more common that originally thought, and is suggestive that they may have comparable savings to submetering. However, further research is needed to verify this. COSTS AND BENEFITS Beyond quantifying the water savings that can be measured by implementing a multifamily water and wastewater billing program, there are many issues that arise concerning these systems for utilities, for property owners, and for residents. As is true with any developing field, 255
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NATIONAL MULTIPLE FAMILY SUBMETERIN
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CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES............
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Matched-Pair Analysis .............
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LIST OF TABLES Table ES.1.1 Breakdo
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Table 6.6 Elasticity values, analys
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Figure 4.30 RUBS water bill #6 ....
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investigated local water savings as
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We are grateful to the members of a
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quantitative aspects of separate bi
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3. Owner/postcard survey: To identi
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"averages" of impact property water
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in-rent properties, others used the
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of these models included the billin
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70 Average Annual Water Use Per Uni
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COSTS AND BENEFITS Beyond quantifyi
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service charge, then the resident w
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Billing Method Efficient Fixtures?
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70 Avg. Water Use per MF Unit (kgal
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REGULATORY FRAMEWORK REVIEW The fra
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Table ES.1.12 NSUAA Summary of Stat
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above, the researchers offer the fo
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service is preferable, and would he
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practices (BMPs) should be implemen
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infrastructure of the building and
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multi-family housing. The transfer
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODU CTION More and mo
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In 1998, 15.0%, or 15.4 million, of
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TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS OF BILL
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submetering. With utility-submeteri
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all the two bedroom units for $20 p
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HOW TO USE THIS REPORT This report
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CHAPTER 2 LITERAT URE REVIEW As the
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A review of the literature unearthe
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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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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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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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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
Page 256 and 257: over which they have control than d
Page 258 and 259: According to the basic consumer cho
Page 260 and 261: The consumer choice problem can be
Page 262 and 263: 210
Page 264 and 265: water systems from compliance with
Page 266 and 267: and methods of practice. NIST publi
Page 268 and 269: Table 7.1 NSUAA Summary of State Re
Page 270 and 271: New Surveys of State Agencies and W
Page 272 and 273: the AWWA WaterStats 1999 database.
Page 274 and 275: Measures, which dispatches a public
Page 276 and 277: Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania
Page 278 and 279: 226 Table 7.6 Summary of utility re
Page 280 and 281: DISCUSSION - KEY EXAMPLES OF STATE
Page 282 and 283: ill. Condominium associations are g
Page 284 and 285: under construction after January 1,
Page 286 and 287: Weights and Measures Regulation In
Page 288 and 289: from the submetering. Meter testing
Page 290 and 291: clean and decent housing or the lac
Page 292 and 293: 240
Page 294 and 295: NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE F
Page 296 and 297: complaints in all 50 states and app
Page 298 and 299: - Meters must demonstrate in testin
Page 300 and 301: - Plumbing systems are space constr
Page 302 and 303: (2) Twisted or kinked flex supply l
Page 304 and 305: 252
Page 308 and 309: there are clear benefits to these s
Page 310 and 311: study site. These values were then
Page 312 and 313: immediately strengthens the owner's
Page 314 and 315: among the nation's key strategies f
Page 316 and 317: all repair and replacement decision
Page 318 and 319: These findings underscore the obser
Page 320 and 321: varies with volume of use) for mult
Page 322 and 323: Recommendation 6 - Efficient plumbi
Page 324 and 325: financially responsible for their o
Page 326 and 327: 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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