Tenant Fairness &
AMR Submetering

Tenants understand that their rent covers a number of costs. Often, rent includes the costs of utility service, especially water, but sometimes gas and electricity also. When utility rates increase or consumption increases, rents are raised.

Tenants should not have to pay for their neighbor’s waste of water and other utility services. With AMR submetering, they do not.

RUBS is Inaccurate, Unfair, and Less Effective
The most common allocation method practiced is RUBS, or Ratio Utility Billing Service. RUBS allocates utility expenses according to a mathematical equation that may or may not accurately reflect consumption. The typical RUBS formula includes a number of factors such as square footage, number of occupants, and/or number of bathrooms.

Allocation methods are often inaccurate. Under allocation methods, a tenant that vacates their unit for a month is unfairly billed for utility consumption despite the fact that they did not use any service. Meanwhile, tenants that take several baths a day or leave the water running get a free ride by passing these costs to the other tenants.

Because allocation methods are inaccurate and unfair, tenants often complain loudly with allocation billing. The complaints of tenants against RUBS have driven several states to declare it illegal. Also, RUBS methods also fail to encourage conservation because changes in consumption are only weakly correlated with changes in the utility bill.

AMR is Accurate, Fair, and Fully Effective
AMR submetering is not an allocation method. Rather AMR submetering measures actual use from the time that a tenant moves in to the time that they move out. Because AMR submetering measures the true consumption rather than a statistically derived consumption, it is fair.

With AMR submetering, tenants that use less utility service get a lower bill while tenants that use more utility service get a higher bill. Rather than estimating consumption levels based upon the number of occupants, bathrooms, or square footage, AMR submetering measures consumption.

Because AMR submetering is accurate, conservation efforts by those most responsible for preserving our nation’s natural resources are rewarded directly through lower bills. Typically, conservation efforts by tenants with AMR submetering reduce consumption by 20% to 40%.