Senate Bill 7: Water Meters Required For Multi-Family Residential

Senate Bill 7 (SB-7) in California required every tenant within a multi-unit property to have their own water submeter, and that landlords be required to bill residents for the amount of water they use. Trust QMC for your hardware, software, and technical needs.

SB-7 requires owners of new multi-unit residential properties built after January 1 2018 to include water submetering systems in the building’s design when submitting an application for water service connection. Requiring water submetering in California makes sense, considering that multi-family residential buildings make up almost 60% of water consumed by residential customers in San Francisco.

Who Does SB-7 Affect?

SB-7 would affect almost all multi-family properties. This ensures every tenant could be appropriately billed for their individual water use. The only properties excluded from this would be: low-income housing, schools, hospitals, time share properties, and senior homes.

Multi-family complexes are equipped with a main master meter, but submeters are less common. However, rising utility rates makes submetering a suite a smart business decision.

Why Should I Install Submeters?

• Accountability: Adding in accurate submeters allows both you and the tenant to stay accountable. With GWF meters, water readings on the meter will match readings tenants see on Utility Billing Solutions, giving them an understanding of where and why they are being charged for their water use.
• Cost Recovery: Having data that provides consistent and accurate readings will help to reduce or eliminate tenant tension with bill collections. Or even better, use a billing and collections service like Utility Billing Solutions to help you manage your submetering service.
• Pinpoint Problem Detection: Using an intelligent web-based reporting platform like MeterConnex can help detect problems almost immediately, saving you time and money on finding the problem. Non-revenue water sources can also be quickly found through advanced algorithms in place.

Installing submeters can help tenants make informed decisions on water conservation, while also helping developers, property managers, and facility managers recovery utility costs. Want to learn more? Contact us today.

Read More:

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• Wireless Water Meters Could Save You $120,000