Redistributing shared utilities

[Joe Cicero]

Hi all,

I bought a 3-unit in Upstate NY back in Oct. I have battled with the local utility company every month since, as they had wrongly assigned meters and tenant payments have been sitting in limbo. This has been especially frustrating as I live across the country.

After 6 months of suffering, I finally got clarity on how meters should be assigned: 

• Entire house has a shared gas meter
• Unit One (1 BR) and Unit Two (1 BR) each has its own electric meter
• Unit Three (2 BR) shares an electric meter with the basement, which only the tenants in Unit One & Two have access to for laundry (Unit Three has in-unit laundry); apparently this meter also powers the fan for the furnace and the hot water heater

I'm seeking advice on how to fairly charge Unit Three for electric usage. I am familiar with RUBS and plan to install a solution, but leases don't expire until Oct. Anything I can do in the meantime? Unit 3's lease explicitly states that they are responsible for electricity. 

Thanks in advance!

Joe

[John Warren]

@Joe Cicero this is a common problem in areas where there is older building stock. A lot of the three units I have sold in the Berwyn and Forest Park areas here in Illinois have the same problems as they were originally designed to be two units. During the war they often had a unit added, but in the good old days no one was worried about energy consumption the way we are now. 

You probably won't want to hear this, but if you are holding the property I think you should spend the money to install a new meter for the basement unit. This will probably cost in the neighborhood of $2,000-2,500 to do, but it is a one time job that you will never have to re-visit. 

If that doesn't make sense financially, the best thing to do is just foot the bill for the basement unit. The only other viable solution would be to install a sub meter, but then someone has to read the sub meter for you. Since you aren't local, this would be a slippery slope that would turn into a time waster.