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CHAPTER 1 INTRODU CTION More and more buildings in the multi-family housing sector are converting to billing systems where the occupants in each dwelling unit pay for water and wastewater directly through actual metering or allocation programs instead of including these charges as part of the rent. The three most common ways to convert to direct billing are through the use of water submeters, billing allocation formulas, or a combination of these two methods. Submetering and allocation issues are becoming more and more prevalent as these conversion systems spark the interest of property managers, water conservationists, and government officials across the country. Submetering and allocation have gained recognition primarily because of the steep increase in water prices. Between 1990 and 1998, the cost of water and wastewater to consumers increased 45 percent, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. This rise is almost double the 25 percent increase in consumer prices in general during that period (Goodman 1999). An analysis of water and wastewater prices from 1986-1998 in 38 cities projected that urban water and wastewater prices would escalate at a rate that is 3% above inflation in the coming decades (DOE 2000). This trend has continued over the past five years and is not expected to abate. The rising price of water can be attributed to the increasing need for utility infrastructure repair and the need to meet more stringent regulations at the federal, state, and local levels. Water price increases have had a pronounced effect on multi-family property owners, raising the cost of doing business. Although individual metering has become standard in single family housing, multi-family housing is typically built with one master meter for all units. Traditionally, property owners have paid the water and wastewater bill and recovered the costs through monthly rent payments. However, as water prices rise at a faster rate than inflation, property owners are seeking ways to control these costs. Some multi-family housing owners are opting for submetering and other methods of allocating water costs, effectively passing the burden of cost increases onto the residents. Water billing in multi-family properties stands in contrast to the seemingly routine manner in which other utilities like electricity and gas are billed directly to residents. Direct billing of any utility (beyond telephone service) in the multi-family sector was uncommon prior to energy shortages and attendant price spikes of the late 1970s. President Carter issued Executive Order 12003, which addressed the issue of energy efficiency and made specific 1
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 18 and 19: quantitative aspects of separate bi
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 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
Page 73 and 74: expected. Additionally, McClelland
Page 75 and 76: submetered and five control (in-ren
Page 77 and 78: Another study might want to target
Page 81 and 82: CHAPTER 3 RESEARC H METHODS, APPROA
Page 83 and 84: 1. Selection of participating study
Page 85 and 86: STUDY SITE SELECTION The Study aime
Page 87 and 88: Figure 3.2 National Multiple Family
Page 89 and 90: Matched pair protocol/survey - conf
Page 91 and 92: information given the available bud
Page 93 and 94: survey. Service companies that prov
Page 95 and 96: in “business to business” calli
Page 97 and 98: MATCHED PAIR SAMPLE The purpose of
Page 99 and 100: The second part of the visit requir
Page 101 and 102:
epresentative of a known population
Page 103 and 104:
51 Table 3.7 Postcard survey statis
Page 105 and 106:
Table 3.8 Comparison of annual wate
Page 107 and 108:
postcard survey. Nevertheless, exam
Page 109 and 110:
confidence interval ranged from 49.
Page 111 and 112:
particular property (e.g., the mont
Page 113 and 114:
State PUC officials - water commiss
Page 115:
10. The PROPID number appearing on
Page 118 and 119:
These costs represent the commodity
Page 120 and 121:
The postcard survey provided inform
Page 122 and 123:
Table 4.4 Average number of units f
Page 124 and 125:
Two-thirds of the properties that r
Page 126 and 127:
Percent of Surveyed Properties with
Page 128 and 129:
$700 Average Rent Per Bedroom ($) $
Page 130 and 131:
Percent of Surveyed Properties with
Page 132 and 133:
Impact properties were also more li
Page 134 and 135:
Table 4.8 Issues considered before
Page 136 and 137:
Percent of Surveyed Impact Properti
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60% Percent of Surveyed Properties
Page 140 and 141:
From the visits, it was found that
Page 142 and 143:
100% Percent of Surveyed Residents
Page 144 and 145:
Roughly similar proportions of resi
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inserts for toilets (21%) or low-fl
Page 148 and 149:
proportion were unsure, 37% from su
Page 150 and 151:
Table 4.18 Ownership and rental rat
Page 152 and 153:
Figure 4.17 Submeter water bill #1
Page 154 and 155:
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
Page 162 and 163:
RUBS Sample Bills Seven sample RUBS
Page 164 and 165:
wastewater rates are not shown so t
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Figure 4.28 RUBS water bill #4 from
Page 168 and 169:
Figure 4.30 RUBS water bill #6 RUBS
Page 170 and 171:
directly to and then paid by the th
Page 172 and 173:
never subtracting for common area w
Page 174 and 175:
Late Fees At the start of water bil
Page 176 and 177:
124
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intuitively clear, and matches comm
Page 180 and 181:
Indoor water use was normalized on
Page 182 and 183:
Table 5.3 Summarized water use anal
Page 184 and 185:
easonable assumption since there is
Page 186 and 187:
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
Page 192 and 193:
70 Average Annual Water Use Per Uni
Page 194 and 195:
Table 5.11 Statistical tests compar
Page 196 and 197:
Factors that Influence Water Use Th
Page 198 and 199:
Table 5.12 Association of categoric
Page 200 and 201:
Indoor Water Use per Unit in 2001 I
Page 202 and 203:
Table 5.13 Continuous factors from
Page 204 and 205:
Multivariate Models to Determine Im
Page 206 and 207:
properties built before 1995 were c
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70 Average Annual Water Use Per Uni
Page 210 and 211:
A = Beta coefficient for “Propert
Page 212 and 213:
substantially reduces the sample si
Page 214 and 215:
Table 5.17 Model #2 coefficients an
Page 216 and 217:
0.00 indicating that whatever fit d
Page 218 and 219:
commodity charge for water and wast
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properties having generally lower w
Page 222 and 223:
110 Average Annual Water Use Per Un
Page 224 and 225:
analysis, intended to control best
Page 226 and 227:
Table 5.27 Paired samples test, all
Page 228 and 229:
Table 5.30 Estimated water use befo
Page 230 and 231:
Table 5.33 Comparison of water savi
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180
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sector only reduced usage by 18% (A
Page 236 and 237:
Table 6.1 Avoided costs from submet
Page 238 and 239:
submetered. Complete responses of c
Page 240 and 241:
included in this cost/benefit analy
Page 242 and 243:
Table 6.3 Cost and benefit for owne
Page 244 and 245:
Perceived Concerns In the resident
Page 246 and 247:
With a service fee, residents could
Page 248 and 249:
Table 6.4 Economic return for a res
Page 250 and 251:
ANALYSIS OF PRICE ELASTICITIES Econ
Page 252 and 253:
concluded that if a single elastici
Page 254 and 255:
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
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The consumer choice problem can be
Page 262 and 263:
210
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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
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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
Page 306 and 307:
Estimated Water Use By Different Bi
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
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varies with volume of use) for mult
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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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