Smarter billing starts with better insights.

Submetering cuts water consumption 15-40% and electricity about 40% in year one, per EPA, NMHC, and Guidehouse research. What the data actually supports, utility by utility, and why the range is so wide.

What multifamily operators must disclose about utility billing before a lease is signed, and what residents in Colorado, Maryland, and DC have a right to request.

Billee integrates with Entrata for utility vendor AP, resident billing, and Vacant Cost Recovery. See how the integration works and what stays in Entrata.

A compliant RUBS lease addendum must disclose the billing method, allocation formula, and administrative fee in writing before move-in. At least a dozen states add specific mandates, and Maryland makes the clause unenforceable without them.

RUBS is banned outright in Connecticut and restricted for specific utilities in Massachusetts and North Carolina. Twenty more states regulate it directly, and 27 have no RUBS-specific law at all. The complete 50-state breakdown, sorted by legal status, with citations.

HUD utility allowances are calculated differently depending on the program. Here is how Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher, and LIHTC properties each calculate theirs, including the HUD Utility Schedule Model and worked rent examples.

A smart meter is owned and maintained by the utility and measures a building's total usage. A submeter is owned and maintained by the property and measures one unit's usage. The difference is ownership and position, not how advanced the technology is.

Florida regulates multifamily utility billing through three separate channels: electric submetering under a strict state cost-recovery rule, a thinner water submetering framework, and RUBS, which has no dedicated statute and runs on the lease.

Submeter data moves through four stages, collection, transmission, a validate-estimate-edit quality pass, and reporting, before it becomes a resident's bill or a CFO's report.