national multiple family submetering and allocation billing program ...

TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS OF BILLING METHODS
In-Rent Properties
In-rent properties refer to all properties where the owner does not separately bill residents
for water and wastewater. In these properties, the water and wastewater bill is considered one of
the operational costs of running the property, and the owner sets the monthly rent to recover
these overhead expenses and also maintain the net operating income of the property. A slight
variation of this standard “in-rent” arrangement can occur when there is a homeowners
association (HOA) at a property that collects monthly fees. Sometimes the HOA dues will
include a flat fee for water and wastewater, as well as other fees for trash, cable TV, landscaping,
et cetera. However, since the water and wastewater fee does not vary with the monthly water bill
and does not come as a separate bill, these properties are usually considered part of the in-rent
category.
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 water 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 is defined as any metering that occurs downstream of a water utility master
meter. Submetering usually implies that a billing system is in place where all of the actual water
consumption in each unit in a multi-family dwelling is measured using one or more water meters
(called submeters). Figure 1.1 shows an example of remote registers used for submetering.
Water bills are then based on the actual usage in each individual unit. Wastewater charges may
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