How closely should I expect the SimpleSUB property total to match my utility meter?

How closely should I expect the SimpleSUB property total to match my utility meter?

If all your water lines are being measured at the unit level by SimpleSUBs, including common areas like irrigation or laundry, you should expect there to be no more than 10% variance between the SimpleSUB property total and the utility meter for the same date range on any given utility billing cycle. 

Why is my SimpleSUB measuring different usage to my utility water bill?  What explains the variance?

There are a number of sources of variance between the SimpleSUBs and the utility meter that can accumulate to a total of about 10%.

1. (5%) SimpleSUB meters specify a 100% + or - 5% accuracy when calibrated for the pipe they are installed on.
2. (2%+) Brand new utility meters typically specify about + or - 2% accuracy.  Note that as older, mechanical utility meters age, they lose accuracy and can measure significantly lower than actual usage.  For this reason, utilities should replace meters on a regular basis, but they often prolong replacement times due to the high replacement cost.  See example articles from utilities explaining why they replace meters here and here.
3. (2-3%) There is some variation in the time of day the meters are read.  Utility meters are normally read physically on the date specified by the bill, but the time of day varies.  SimpleSUB provides usage data from midnight to midnight of the days requested.

How will this difference impact the fairness of my billing?

• If you are using SimpleSUB Effective billing i.e. you are monitoring all of the same water supply that your utility is billing you for to ensure that we are capturing the same usage data as the utility meter, then this variation will not impact the allocation of usage per tenant. Since SimpleSUB is breaking down the usage based on the utility total bill, you will never overcharge or recoup more than the utility’s charge which ensures fair splitting to the tenants for the percentage of the total water usage for the billing period.
• If you are using the Utility Effective billing method i.e. you are not installing a SimpleSUB on every supply line, common area, irrigation system, etc., then the difference in the water bill vs SimpleSUB’s meters totals will differ by the amount that is used in the non SimpleSUB monitored areas.  It’s important to check that the SimpleSUB total is less than the utility total.  If not, please reach out to SimpleSUB support to attempt to diagnose any issues.  

  What if the usage difference is over 10% between SimpleSUB and the Utility bill?

1. Confirm units of water on utility bill match the output of usage from SimpleSUB Web App. Utilities use a variety of cubic feet (CF), centum cubic feet (CCF), hundred cubic feet (HCF) or gallons.
2. You need to confirm that SimpleSUB meters are covering all of the water supply that the utility is measuring and billing for. If there are supplies of water that you are not able to install a SimpleSUB meter on, you will need to use the Utility Effective rate method in the Web App to ensure that we do not expect the usage to match between SimpleSUB and the utility. If SimpleSUB is compatible with the missing supply lines, we can facilitate a new purchase to get meters installed to match the utility’s supply sources.   
3. Confirm with the Utility that the bill was for actual usage and that the dates are accurate. Sometimes utilities estimate usage if they have an issue with the meter or ability to read the meter.
4. If the SimpleSUB meters are monitoring the whole property covered by the utility meter, then there is a possibility of a main water supply leak before the SimpleSUB meters are monitoring usage. Your local utility should be able to perform a leak audit to ensure that there is not a leak in the main supply line.
5. Once the water supplies match and a main water leak are ruled out, please reach out to SimpleSUB support to attempt to diagnose any issues @ [phone] or [e-mail]