All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Guardian Water & Power provides water submetering and utility billing services for properties of all sizes.  From their website, here is an overview of how the service works...

1. "PURCHASE" - Guardian ships you a water meter with an affixed radio frequency transmitter for each unit at your property. You also receive a polymer coupling set for each meter and (1) cable box sized, 3G NoWire 1100 central data collector.

2. "CONNECT" - Hang up the NoWire 1100 in a secure location on the property such as a utility closet or sprinkler room and plug it into a standard 110v electric outlet. Use our web portal to make sure all your RF transmitters are checking into the NoWire as they are installed.

3. "INSTALL" - You or your plumber installs a meter right after each unit’s main water shut off valve. If your units do not have individual shut off valves, the lines will have to first be separated before you implement submetering. It’s important that you understand your property’s plumbing infrastructure before you purchase submeteirng equipment.  If your units do not have shut off valves but they do have hot water tanks then hot water capture, cold water allocation submetering is a viable option. 

4. "BILL" - Guardian starts sending utility bills to residents based on local utility rates. Bills are supported by our 1-800 resident call center. We provide regulatory assistance to keep your property in compliance with local rules and regulations and guide you on how to introduce submetering to your residents.

5. "COLLECT" Each month you receive a statement from Guardian showing all the units on your account along with tenant names, previous and current meter reads, usage and the total amount you should expect to collect from each of your residents. It is up to you to collect utility payments along with rent and then pay the building’s master utility bill to the provider.

The meters cost around $500 each and we give you the NoWire data collector for free. The monthly monitoring fee ranges from $5-$15 per unit per month which 99% of our property managers and landlords pass through on each resident's Guardian utility bill.

If you have plumbing infrastructure that does not support submetering or the cost of new submeters is not in your budget, you may want to consider a "ratio utility billing system" (RUBS) as a possible alternative. With RUBS, you keep on file with Guardian the number of occupants in each unit and send us your master water/sewer bill as your receive it from the provider each billing cycle. We distribute the total charges back to each apartment unit in the form of a utility bill based on the number of occupants and/or or square footage. There is no charge to the property owner to set up or administer our RUBS service.

California Weights & Measures regulations make it very difficult for Guardian and other submetering companies to provide services to smaller properties in the Bay Area. RUBS is probably a better solution for your property.

Guardian Water & Power is based in Ohio and provides water submetering and utility billing services in the Cincinnati area. Typical install costs range from $300-500 per unit depending on the plumbing set up and number of units at your building.  You also have the option of purchasing "do it yourself" submeter kits from Guardian.  Once the system is installed Guardian provides monthly read, monitor and bill services.  

First thing to confirm when you considering a submetering system is that each of your apartment units have their own hot water tank and shut off valve.  

Hope this helps and good luck! 

Guardian Water & Power provides third party RUBS in New Hampshire 

I like the idea of locks or you could also just move the the control units to a utility closet or other lockable common room.  Water/sewer should be billed back based on occupant count whereas gas could be billed back based on occupant count or square footage.  There are third party billing companies out there such as Guardian Water & Power that provide RUBS at no charge to owner/management. 

Guardian Water & Power provides RUBS services in upstate New York.  

Originally posted by @Eric Hathway:

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

The amount billed to the resident is not the same each month using RUBS, instead the resident's bill fluctuates based on total building consumption.

What is one tenant doesn't pay? The utility can't be shut off to one single unit, no?

Enforcing payment really becomes a matter of the lease.  Some landlords include a statement in their lease that says rent will not be accepted until the water bills is paid. Turning off water is typically not allowed. 

The amount billed to the resident is not the same each month using RUBS, instead the resident's bill fluctuates based on total building consumption. The entire building's water/sewer, gas or electric bill less any common area or goodwill deductions is billed back to each apartment based on occupant count, square footage or a weighted average of the two. Studies sponsored by the National Multi-Housing Council and the National Apartment Association have documented the linkage between water conservation and separate billing for water usage. These studies found that individually metered apartments experience an 18 to 39 percent reduction in water consumption compared with properties that include water expenses in rent. Properties that use a RUBS allocation formula to distribute water costs had a reduction of 6 to 27 percent in water usage. The advantage of using a third party RUBS company such as Guardian or NWP instead of the owner doing it themselves is that each resident receives a formal utility bill in the mail each month with the provider's logo and1-800 call center number to answering any resident inquiries.  Also the service is typically free to the owner.  The small billing fee is just passed through to the resident 99% of the time. 

Hi Chad.  I don't think there are any third party submetering companies based in NH.  Guardian Water & Power is based in Ohio and provides RUBS for smaller properties.   

3G submeters that can be monitored online start at around $500 each then usually $200-300 each for a plumber to install. There are companies such as Guardian Water & Power that sell meters and a monthly billing service. You also have the option of doing RUBS where you bill back the master water bill to each tenant based on occupant count.