By James John
Most commercial companies bill their tenants each month regarding the amount of electricity, water and gas consumed. Everyone will agree this is a smart business move since it reduces business owners’ chances of underestimating the tenants’ consumption. It is also cost-efficient in many ways for both the owner and the tenant.
There has been an increasingly high number of coveted amenities making tenants take advantage of space and leasing alternatives available. Therefore, it makes perfect sense when a business owner takes advantage of this to offer the best benefits. And that is where the essence of submetering tenants’ spaces comes into play.
Going the route of submeter billing for each space will be useful for both the land and tenant. The latter can use the submeter data to reach sustainability targets, measure individual efforts, and ensure accurate billing. When it comes to property owners, they can realize their energy goals, save money and gain a competitive advantage.
While it is true that submeter billing is an excellent idea, it is also crucial to note they come with a few setbacks. Ultimately, this article will address some of the benefits of going this route while mentioning the setbacks this development brings.
Benefits of Submetering
As aforementioned, submetering is one of the smartest business moves today. This development has seen various advancements in its application areas and assures users of maximum outputs and delivering the following benefits.
Make Tenant Billing Accurate and Effortless
The general expectation from most tenants is that the landlord will accurately and fairly charge them. But this is never possible without a submeter. Some landlords will charge each tenant a portion of the total energy bill by square feet of the leased space. But this, in essence, may lead to unfair billing for the tenants. For instance, a restaurant owner and a clothing retail shop owner can never pay equal water bills under normal circumstances. A restaurant will consume more water as compared to a retail shop. Nevertheless, submeter billing will get more comfortable when a landlord chooses the automated system.
Allows Tenants To Take Control
Having accurate energy bills is indeed an excellent idea. But the tenants would wish to see that by having their real-time data for their space. Typically, the tenants will be able to see how their daily activities influence their utility bills. Consequently, they can track each sustainability effort they make, which is visible on the consumption data. Plus, this will also motivate them to reduce energy consumption by making simple lifestyle adjustments. Another benefit this comes with is facilitating unnecessary verbal exchange between the landlord and tenant about energy bills.
Realize Common Goals
In the modern world, many landlords and tenants have common goals to ensure their living space is perfect. Talk about sustainability goals, the drive to save money and energy bills, and many more; these efforts can be realized through submetering. Going the submetering route will offer a single solution for every stakeholder’s goals.
Submetering Setbacks
Let us face it; submetering is an excellent idea, but this innovation itself is not perfect. More often than not, the submeter billing has fallen short of expectation and has called for more innovative ideas to correct that. In fact, some can confidently say the whole process is inaccurate, frustrating, and inefficient. Consider the following setbacks, which in essence, have their solutions at the same time.
The Manual Reading
While there are vast developments to automate the submeter billing process, this has never been a universal case. In the world of submetering, automation has not brought any significant changes in a long time. Most vendors still have to go around each building, collecting the details manually. This is not only tiresome but is also time-consuming. Fortunately, there have been some improvements through the innovation of devices installed in the building to collect data automatically. Thanks to the cloud storage and data sharing power, that has made the whole process easier today.
Meters are Difficult to Read
Over the past decades, there has been a concern that meters are difficult to read. And this has not changed even one bit in the 21st century. Just like in the old-time, the vendors and building owners undergo the daunting process of reading a submeter. Even though the digital meters are easier to read, some people still find the challenge of obstructions, wear and tear, and broken glass. Users can eliminate this by using a device that automatically records consumption and is usually accurate compared to the old models.
