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findings and provision of supplementary policy data. NSUAA review of regulatory and policy review and recommendations. 7. Matched pair selection and site visits: Study team utilized the results from the manager survey to make statistically similar pair matches for site visits and comparison. Site visit protocol developed. Study team and participating utilities conducted site visits. QAQC – Project manager, PAC/POC review of match pair methodology and site visit protocol. Consultant review of all site visit data and historic billing data for matched pair samples. 8. Resident survey: To solicit resident opinions and experiences with different billing methods, a survey instrument were developed, tested, and sent to residents using addresses provided on the manager survey. Some residents also provided copies of their water and wastewater bills sent by various read and bill companies. QAQC – Project manager, PAC/POC review of survey instrument. Data input quality control review and checks. 9. Read and bill company survey: To obtain information about billing practices and policies a survey was sent to 36 third party billing companies. QAQC – Project manager, PAC/POC review of survey instrument. Data input quality control review and checks. 10. Statistical analysis and modeling: Once the data collection and analysis was complete research team used all of the assembled information to develop analytical tools and relationships to quantify potential water savings and explain indoor multi-family residential water use. QAQC – Team statistician Dr. Peter Bickel frequently reviewed the statistical analysis and modeling effort, making suggestions for refinements and further analyses. 11. Final products: The final products of this research project include this final report and the database. QAQC – An extensive PAC/POC and peer review process was established to ensure the final report is of the highest possible quality. QAQC procedures for the database development were implemented throughout the research process and are listed above. 16 Impact properties – multi-family properties billing separately for water and/or wastewater services using RUBS, submetering, hot water hybrid, or other methods. 32
STUDY SITE SELECTION The Study aimed to include a large and diverse sample of in-rent and impact properties from cities in geographically diverse sections of the United States. There were two fundamental requirements for participation in the study: (1) the site had to have a reasonable population of submetered and RUBS properties; and (2) the local water utility had to be willing to cooperate and assist with the study including providing water billing data. To find locations that met the first requirement, the research team collected complete lists of customer properties across the U.S. from as many submetering and customer billing companies as possible. Utilities in all of these locations were contacted repeatedly to solicit their participation. Ultimately, 13 cities fitting both criteria were selected for the study. 17 Billing Industry Conversion Data There are a number of companies that install submeters and/or provide water billing services to owners of multi-family properties using one of the billing methods previously described. Since most water utilities did not know precisely which multi-family properties subscribe to these services, it was necessary to work with the submetering industry to obtain complete lists of accounts that they have converted. Companies that cooperated with this phase of the study and provided useful information were American Utility Management, Archstone, Minol, National Water and Power, US Water Works, USI Energy, Viterra, WaterMaster, and Wellspring. From these companies, over 1,300 properties were identified in cities across the nation. In addition, Texas requires all properties that have undergone conversion to register on the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) web site - http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/index.html. Using the data available on this web site, additional submetered and RUBS properties in Texas and in particular in Austin and San Antonio were identified. The data provided by the service companies and available through other sources was utilized to identify cities with a reasonably large population of submetered, RUBS, and hot water hybrid properties. The study team made an effort to contact every water utility in cities meeting 17 Significant time and effort was spent trying to recruit additional study sites from the eastern US and local contacts were enlisted to help in the recruitment effort, but very few utilities expressed any interest and/or willingness to cooperate with the research effort. 33
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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
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
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: 1. Selection of participating study
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
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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
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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
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARC
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Fixed rates - Part of a master mete
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Total-capture submetering - a type
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282
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Corral, L.R. 1997. Price and Non-Pr
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McClelland, L. 1980. Encouraging En
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Young, C.E., K.R. Kinsley and W.E.
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