Port Arthur Utility Submetering and Billing
For Commercial Properties and Multifamily Communities
Port Arthur Utility Submetering and Billing
for Water, Electric and Gas
Oates Energy provides Port Arthur utility submetering and billing solutions for multifamily and condominium communities, and other types of multifamily communities as well as commercial properties all over the country. Our Water, Electric and Gas utility submetering and billing services are very different than most providers in our industry in that they can all be customized and adjusted to how each property manager would like us to provide them.
Most of our competitors’ business models are set up for their own internal efficiency and provide the same services to all of their customers the same way. While this approach may be good for the service provider, it seldom addresses the unique needs and preferences of their customers. For many property managers, this lack of flexibility usually does not effectively address their needs. Below is a closer look at how we support a few of our key markets.
Utility Submetering & Billing
for Multifamily Communities
Oates Energy is one of the nations leaders in recovering utility costs for multifamily property managers. We customize our Port Arthur utility submetering and billing services to each property manager’s unique needs and preferences. Everything from utility submetering, to how we bill residents, to our online services, our U.S. based billing customer care, to which utilities and monthly fees we bill residents for can all be adjusted to the unique needs of every property manager. Contact us to discuss a customized utility submetering and billing solution for your community!
Utility Submetering & Billing
for Condominium Communities
Condominium communities use our services to encourage residents to be conservative with their utility usage. This helps keep HOA fees low for everyone. If your community does not have utility submeters, Oates Energy can help. A remote-read utility submetering system can be installed and remotely managed to track actual usage, and we can then bill residents based on their usage.
If you do not wish to add a submetering system, we can implement a RUBS formula that you define. Either approach allows property managers to separate utility costs from monthly condo or HOA fees and recover more of the community’s utility costs. Contact us to discuss a customized Port Arthur utility submetering and billingsolution for your community.
Utility Submetering & Billing
for Mobile Home Parks
Mobile home parks find our services to be the perfect solution for their unique needs. We help parks in a variety of ways. We can update existing systems to remote read utility submetering systems or provide meter reading services for parks with direct read submeters. For residents with submeters, we track and bill based on actual usage, and provide RUBS billing solutions for residents that do not have submeters.
We can even bill for other monthly charges and fees. And we design cost effective utility billing and submetering solutions or just utility billing solutions for parks with as few as 50 residences. Contact us about a customized Port Arthur utility submetering and billing solution and start recovering more of your park’s utility costs!
Utility Submetering & Billing
for Commercial Properties
Commercial industrial parks, retail shopping plaza and mall tenants often have very different utility needs and can even have special arrangements for billing. These and other special arrangements are not uncommon with commercial properties and can make recovering utility costs and other billing responsibilities considerably more complicated.
We designed our services to address these types of special requirements. Commercial property managers are able to select only the services they need and then adjust them to however they would like us to provide them. Contact us to discuss a customized Port Arthur utility submetering and billing solution for your commercial property.
Submetering Installation
for New Construction
Oates Energy has been working with general contractors on new construction projects for over 20 years. We have an excellent reputation for quality workmanship and completing projects on time. If you are planning a new project and need a dependable utility submetering system installation contractor, 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.
