Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/60637
Mobile Homes and Submetering What is Submetering? Submetering is the process of installing a water, gas or electric meter on each mobile home after the master utility meters for the mobile home park. The term "submeter" is used for any meter installed after the master meter. With submeters installed at every mobile home the association is able to utilize a third party meter reading and billing company to read the meters and produce monthly bills for the selected utilities. Why Submeter? One of the largest expenses for a mobile home park is utilities. It is also an expense item that continues to increase over time. There are three major reasons for this: • Rate Increases – The cost of energy (gas and electric) production and acquiring clean water has outpaced inflation for the past decade. • Increases in Occupancy – Due to the eco- nomic environment more people are living with extended families. Higher occupancy leads to higher utility usage. •Wasteful Usage - Residents are often less con- servative with their utility usage when they are not aware of their individual consumption or do not have an incentive to save. Studies have shown that once residents become aware of their utility usage, the total consumption will go down, on average around 22%. Accord- ing to a 2007 Santa Clara Water District study, Water Submetering inMobileHome Parks, "Ten- ants who are individually metered can benefit by being able to monitor and control their water use – with submetering, they only pay for what they use, not what others use . . . the four mobile home parks examined shows an annual water sav- ings of from 15 to 30%." Submeteringmakes economic sense for both the association and the residents. The water, gas and/or electric can be billed back to the residents thus reducing the overall association's expenses. Without submetering, associations and property owners may be forced to pass the increased ex- penses evenly to all residents. This would unfairly increase costs for residents who are already con- scious of their utility usage. The residents will benefit because they are now in control of their utility expenses. Submeters and AutomaticMeter Reading Systems (AMR) There aremany types of submeters that will ac- commodate any mobile home. In areas where water pipes can freeze, you need to take measures to prevent themeters fromfreezing. For these ap- plications there are meters with freeze plates or heat tape with insulation jackets. There are also a variety of gas and electric meters suitable for any environment. Submeters were once read by a "meter reader" who came to the property once a month to read the meters either manually or with a variety of handheld devices. This outdated way of reading meters only provided the meter read- ings once a month, so if there were a leak on the property or a running toilet, hundreds of gallons of water would have already been wasted before the resident received their next bill. The current way of reading submeters is through an Automatic Meter Reading System or (AMR). AMR's have a small transmitter connected to each meter that sends the meter reads wirelessly to a data collector located on the property. The meter readings can then be downloaded daily and used to notify a propertymanager or resident if there is a sudden or steady increase in water usage. The devices can pinpoint the exact meter and time the in- creased usage started so the leak can be resolved within days, not months. Many \ 10 No. 5 on Get It Quick Page APRIL 2012 7 THE JOURNAL