From the October Issue: Subscribing to Submetering

The growing trend of submetering offers a wide variety of benefits, among them utility conservation, a reduced administrative burden, stabilized rents, decreased operating costs, a higher property value and improved cash flow.

And a number of noteworthy submetering developments with national ramifications have taken place in the last several months.

In early March, the IRS issued a combination of final and temporary regulations on submetering for LIHTC housing. They allow owners to submeter and bill for property-generated energy, which isn’t provided by utilities.

The IRS declared that at regulated properties, water and sewer services to residents can feature a submetered methodology, in which the amounts are part of the utility allowance. Or they can use a Ratio Utility Billing System, or RUBS, approach, in which the amounts are regarded as part of gross rent.

In the meantime, the National Conference of State Legislatures weighed in  by declaring that submetering can be managed by non-electricity-, gas- or water-producing third-party entities that resell utilities to customers behind the utility meter.

For more on how the latest trends in submetering will affect your business, read the full report in the November issue of MHN.