Landlord supplying utilities to Tenant

[Andy B.]

Why would a Landlord want to buy utilities from the utility and then bill Tenant for the cost? I am asking mostly in relation to office/retail property but answers on apartment and even single family might help.

I can understand if the individual units cannot be separately metered, but I keep running into the situation (I represent retail tenants) where a Landlord wants the right to sell utilities to the tenant even though the building is already individually metered. I just don;t see the benefit for the Landlord since the Landlord has to set up the utility account, pay the bills and then calculate how to charge the tenant (or read the appropriate meter) and send a bill to the tenant and pursue collection.

Can anyone help me see what I am missing?