sub metering

[ishium 80439]

I had a customer contact me the other day with a submetering question. She owns a commercial property that at one point was single use ( I think it was part warehouse and part prefab shop). She is now looking to divide and rent approximatley 5 spaces. There is already one Emon meter installed for tenant #1 and she is looking to submeter the other spaces as well. The existing electrical in this place is rough in that it is going to very difficult to straighten out what loads come from what panel. If we tried to install meters for the POCO to read it would essentially mean an entire revamp of the electrical which is not feasable. I understand that if we install Emon's for the other spaces, there are company's that will read the meters and divide the bills etc (the existing tenant does not want the landlord reading the meter). My question is does anyone have any experience with this? A Google search yielded one national company but nothing else that seemed of much relevance to me. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

FWIW the service is 120/208 3P 4W and I think 800A.

 

[ramsy]

The existing electrical in this place is rough in that it is going to very difficult to straighten out what loads come from what panel.

If multiple tenants are sharing the same home run circuits, how can utility bills be separated? The landlord has little choice, but to divide the bill equally and include it in the rent; or pay an electrician to separate the units.

I understand that if we install Emon's for the other spaces, there are company's that will read the meters and divide the bills..

Those programs are usually described on the POCO website. In my state, 3rd party or land-lord metering was banned, with a few grandfathered exceptions.

 

[tshea]

Submetering (reselling electricity) is illegal in WI unless you are a primary customer (high voltage). Then you can resell power to your tenants. You must have a "revenue" meter. Not sure if EmonDemon qualifies as a revenue meter.

In the real world--submeter whatever you can. You will find a lot of crossed circuits so you will need to fix those or not bill for them.

Why don't you offer a maintenace contract? Bill your customer for a set amount each month to go in, read the meters, then process the paperwork. Once you have a spreadsheet set up, it's a matter of read teh meters and let the spreadsheet do teh math...

 

[nakulak]

re-metering, sub-metering, metering the power twice, whatever you want to call it, is illegal in many states. Its a tough issue for landlords -either they pay the piper and provide services for each tenant, or they have to come up with a leasing scheme that is fair( or at least doesn't drive the tenants away), or (if you are in the minority) you might find someone who can provide you with a legal submetering scheme (good luck)

 

[lpelectric]

I know in NY State, a Municipality will supply electricity only to a Customer of the Municipality. This energy is intended for only the Customer's use and is not permitted to be sub-metered, resold, assigned or otherwise disposed of to another or others except under a very strict guideline.

For example, a Customer may redistribute for the use of his tenants where the facility is operated primarily for transients; or for rooming houses, dorms, hospitals, and other institutional care facilities where the tenants or occupants do not occupy individual flats or apartments equipped with separate bathroom and kitchen facilities; and other facilities by written consent of the New York Power Authority. :smile:

 

[480sparky]

In Iowa, you would be allowed to submeter for tenant billing purposes only. You cannot increase the price or profit from it.

In other words, let's say you have a main meter for the whole building, and the building has 3 tenants. You can install 3 submeters in order to calculate what portion of the entire bill is each tenants. But you cannot charge a tenant $500.01 for power use if the submeter clicked off $500 of power usage. The owner is still liable for the entire power bill, and adds each tenants usages to their monthly rent payments.

Submetering is also done on occasion for large construction projects that draw power from an existing service. Submeters are installed for the same reason and use as above.

 

[satcom]

In Jersey if we sub meter, we have to have a third party read the meters, and do the billing. No cheap way out. The state laws are enforced and the penalties for not following the metering laws are tough.

 

[ishium 80439]

Great info. A few thoughts to your responses in somewhat random order:

- Part of the project does involve recircuiting as necessary to ensure everone is paying for their space and their space only.
- It was a POCO rep that gave me the idea to have a 3rd party read the submeters so I am assuming it is legal here. I'll have to check into that a bit more.
- The landlord is only looking to have bill divided fairly, not have any mark up.
- The concept a service contract with me reading the meters is interesting. I'm not sure what a fair charge for this would be. It's kind of far from me so I would need to cover travel each month. I just have no prior experience to relate to this to begin to think of a place to start with fees.