Submetering

The business rationale for submetering water is simple; any first year MBA student is told that "that which you cannot measure you cannot manage."  Just as importantly, at least in business, that which is not managed will quickly lead to waste, and of course, losses.  Water is not simply a utility service to be provided to tenants; it will be either a liability or an asset: the difference between the former and the latter is submetering.

Definition

Formally, submetering is defined as the "full capture metering that occurs downstream of a water utility master meter."  This definition includes both residential and non-residential projects.  Non-residential developments might be commercial developments such as shopping malls or places such as university campuses.  On the residential side, the term submetering usually refers to multi-family housing in the form of apartment buildings, condominiums, manufactured housing parks, and marinas or RV parks.

Submetering and Automatic Meter Reading (AMR)

In theory, property owners could use any method available to read the meters in their developments; from sending personnel to physically read the numbers on a meter and note them down, through all manner of outdated systems that still involve sending personnel out to take meters reads using a hand-held device.  In practice only one methodology, known as Automatic Meter Reading (AMR), can give property owners the information and the tools they need.  AMR is based on a fixed-network of radio transmitters attached to individual water meters.  These transmitters are linked by a data gateway to a control center and relay meter information constantly throughout the day.  This information can then be captured and put to profitable use.

The need for submetering

Rising utility bills and water shortages have spurred multifamily property owners across the world to implement submetering programs in order to recover revenue and promote conservation.

The business case for submetering is made up of the following elements:

  • Tenant accountability-linking the usage of utilities (i.e. water, gas, electricity, and heat) to the cost of using those utilities by having residents pay for what they use, and only what they use. This of course emphasizes allocating costs for usage to residents, rather than having them including "in rent."
  • Conservation-reducing the quantities of water, gas, and electricity used by residents by the simple expedients of letting them pay for that consumption and letting them know how much they are using as the month progresses.
  • Loss prevention-minimizing the costs associated with slow leaks, pipe bursts, unusual consumption, stopped meters, and tampering.
  • Capitalization-submetering not only allows property owners to manage the flow of water, gas, and electricity, it increases their investments' cash flow and bottom line. This in turn has a direct and measurable impact on the properties' capitalization and their price if they are ever sold.

Submetering is an essential tool for property managers and owners worldwide.  The science and art of managing multifamily properties has advanced tremendously from the days when the building's manager would come around once a week to collect the rent.  Tenants expect, and the business environment positively demands, that the properties be managed effectively, efficiently, and with transparency.  Nowhere is the need for modern management methods more apparent than in the supply and consumption of water.  Long considered an obvious component of the rent, water now rightly takes its place as a valuable resource that should be conserved and used wisely.  Only a fixed-network submetering system, capable of managing water usage all day, every day, can provide property owners and managers with the tools they need to integrate the supply of utilities into their management framework.

Miltel Technology for Submetering

Miltel applies the same high quality standards to its submetering products than it does in its utility applications (link).  At the same time, we recognize the special needs of the submetering market we address them fully.

  • Multi-utility-the same endpoint (transmitter) used for one utility (say, gas), can be used for others, as long as the meter's output (e.g. pulse, encoded) is the same for all the meters. This allows the property manager to centralize all utility management in one place.
  • Range of effective service lives-some property owners would like to manage their business on shorter cycles than large utilities; five years instead of ten or twenty. Miltel's submetering products can be equipped with different batteries, including replaceable, five-year batteries.
  • Full management suite-Mitel provides a full submetering software management suite that enables property managers to fully control their AMR deployment, reveive and manage alerts, define reading (billing) cycles, etc.
  • Business continuity and backup-consumption data of water, gas, electricity, and heat are valuable business assets that can nevertheless be very difficult to secure. Miltel offers the possibility of using our cloud service to route all submetering data through our robust servers, providing business continuity and backup services.

Submetering in North America and around the world

Miltel has deployed submetering projects in almost every continent around the world.  Our technology has been certified numerous times (link) and has been adapted to the needs and regulations of numerous countries.

In the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, Miltel markets its products through our subsidiary Cereniti DataSense Networks.