Laredo
Utility Submetering and Billing
Tailored to The Unique Needs
of Your Community or Property
Laredo Utility Submetering and Billing
for Water, Electric and Gas
Oates Energy provides fully customizable Laredo utility submetering and billing services for Water, Electric and Gas. While most of our competitors prefer the efficiency of offering a fixed set of services that are provided to all of their clients the same way. We’ve taken a much different approach. We understand that each community and property manager has specific preferences on how they bill their residents and tenants and recover utility costs. So we designed a suite of utility submetering and billing services that can be tailored to the unique needs and preferences of each community and property we serve. Below is a closer look at how we support our key markets.
Utility Submetering & Billing
for Multifamily Communities
Any multifamily community property manager knows the importance of NOI, and one key aspects of NOI is utility costs. Oates Energy specializes in recovering utility costs with custom tailored Laredo utility submetering and billing solutions designed to address the unique needs and preferences of each community and property manager. Everything from our online account services for residents to our real-time management portal for property managers. Contact us to discuss a customized utility submetering and billing solution for your community!
Utility Submetering & Billing
for Condominium Communities
Often condo or HOA fees include utility costs, most often water. And if your community or building does not have submeters, Oates Energy can help in a couple of different ways.
A remote-read water submetering system can be installed to track actual usage and encourage conservation. And residents can be billed accurately for the water and sewer fees they use. If you do not wish to install a submetering system, we can provide billing for utilities based on a RUBS formula. Either way would encourage conservation and separate utility costs from monthly condo or HOA fees and recover more of your utility costs. Contact us to discuss a customized Laredo utility submetering and billing solution for your community or building.
Utility Submetering & Billing
for Mobile Home Parks
Mobile home parks choose Oates Energy because of our ability to completely customize our services to deliver only the services their park needs and then adjust those services to exactly how they need and prefer them to be provided.
Our billing services can be completely customized. For residents with meters, we track and bill based on actual usage. And for residents without utility submeters, we can customize a “RUBS”, (Ratio Utility Billing System) to recover utility costs. We can also bill for other monthly charges and fees such as Internet and telephone service. We design customized Laredo utility submetering and billing solutions or just utility billing solutions for each park’s unique needs. Contact us for cost effective solution designed to recover more of your utility costs!
Utility Submetering & Billing
for Commercial Properties
Commercial properties can have vastly different utility requirements. Tenants can range from manufacturing companies to small hair or nail salons to large grocery stores and can even have special lease terms for utility cost or billing arrangements. These unique requirements make Oates Energy a great fit for all types of commercial multi-unit properties because we can adjust and customize our services for just about any requirement. Contact us to discuss a customized Laredo utility submetering and billing solution for your commercial property.
Submetering Installation
for New Construction
General contractors all over the country have trusted Oates Energy for professional installation of water, electric and gas utility submetering systems for over 20 years. Our installation technicians are extremely versed in today’s advanced equipment. We install to local codes and fully test every system we install to assure a successful final inspection. If you are planning a new project that calls for utility submetering installation and are in need of a partner you can count on for quality workmanship and jobsite safety, we would be pleased to provide you with a detailed bid.
Utility Submetering Laws and Regulations in Texas
A political subdivision may not authorize the construction or occupancy of a new apartment house, including the conversion of property to a condominium, unless the construction plan provides for the measurement of the quantity of electricity consumed by the occupants of each dwelling unit of the apartment house, either by individual metering by the utility company or by submetering by the owner.
This section does not prohibit a political subdivision from issuing a permit to a nonprofit organization for construction of a new apartment house for occupancy by low-income elderly tenants if the nonprofit organization establishes, by submitting engineering and cost data and a sworn statement, that all cost savings will be passed on to the low-income elderly tenants (Tex. Utilities Code Ann. §184.012).
The Texas Water Code requires each unit in a building with five or more residential units built after Jan. 1, 2003 to have either an individual water utility meter or sub-meter. If feasible, it requires water companies to install individual meters in such buildings at the building owner’s request. The water company can charge reasonable costs for installing the meters. If the water company determines that installing these meters is not feasible, the law requires the property owner to install a plumbing system compatible with sub-meters.
For submetering multi-unit property owners, the state’s water code limits submetering charges on tenants to the cost per gallon and applicable taxes and surcharges charged by the water company; a late fee up to five percent of the late bill; and a service charge of up to nine percent of the costs related to submetering allocated to each sub-metered unit. The code also requires the property owners to maintain adequate records and make them available to tenants and sub-meters to meet certain standards for accuracy, testing, and record keeping (Texas Water Code §13.501 through 13.506).
*Information courtesy of:
The National Conference of State Legislatures
WestlawNext, 2016.
