Colorado Submetering Laws for Multifamily Properties
Last reviewed September 2026NES Editorial, checked by the Billing & Compliance team
Colorado allows water, gas, and electric submetering at utility cost, caps fees at 2% or $10, and requires per-unit meters for permits after July 1, 2027.
What are Colorado's submetering laws in 2026?
Owners can submeter water, sewer, gas, and electric in Colorado apartments and bill residents for what each unit uses, at no more than the utility's actual charge. Three statutes set the terms. C.R.S. 6-1-737 (in force January 1, 2026) caps the total billed to residents at the master bill and requires the lease to disclose the method. C.R.S. 38-12-801(3)(a)(VI) allows one billing fee if the lease provides for it: 2% of the amount billed or $10 a month, not both. C.R.S. 6-1-737(4.5) (HB 26-1013, signed March 26, 2026) requires a meter on every unit in buildings whose permits are applied for on or after July 1, 2027.
Yes. Submetering is allowed in Colorado, with some restrictions.
Owners cannot bill residents above the utility's cost, and NES handles the requirements for you.
The three rules
- Price transparency, C.R.S. 6-1-737 (HB 25-1090, effective January 1, 2026): residents together cannot be billed more than the utility charged the property, common-area usage stays with the owner, and the lease says how utilities are billed
- Billing fee, C.R.S. 38-12-801(3)(a)(VI) (effective January 1, 2026): with lease language, either 2% of the utility amount billed or $10 a month, not both. It covers any utility a third party bills the landlord for, not only PUC-regulated ones
- Metering mandate, C.R.S. 6-1-737(4.5) (HB 26-1013, effective March 26, 2026): buildings with permits applied for on or after July 1, 2027 need a utility meter or a submeter on every unit for water, gas, and electric
- Mobile home parks, C.R.S. 38-12-212.4: water billed at actual cost, no added charges, with a reasonable and consistent allocation method
What changes on July 1, 2027
The date applies to new construction. Apply for a residential building permit on or after July 1, 2027 and every unit needs its own meter for gas, electric, and water, either from the utility or a submeter the property owns. Formula billing is out for those buildings. Existing buildings are not affected. If you have a Colorado project on the drawing board for 2027, put the submeter rough-ins in the plans now; adding them later costs several times more.
- Trigger: the permit application date, not occupancy
- Scope: water, gas, and electric, one meter per unit
- Utility meters and property-owned submeters both count
- Buildings permitted before the date keep their current billing
Fees you can add to a resident's bill
- No markup on the utility itself, ever
- One billing fee, only if the lease provides for it: 2% of the amount the landlord was billed or $10 a month, not both (C.R.S. 38-12-801(3)(a)(VI))
- Fee plus utility charges still cannot exceed the property's actual utility bill (C.R.S. 6-1-737)
- Mobile home park water: no fee at all (C.R.S. 38-12-212.4(3))
- Late fees follow the general limits in C.R.S. 38-12-105
Allocation billing in existing buildings
In buildings permitted before July 1, 2027, an owner can still split the master bill by a formula (square footage, occupants, or a mix) when the lease discloses it. The at-cost ceiling applies, and common-area use such as irrigation, pool, and laundry comes out before the split. Most Colorado owners who can submeter do; measured bills hold up better with residents and match where the state is going.
Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs
The statutes above are state law and apply the same in every city. What changes is the utility. Denver Water lists submeters as qualifying equipment under its custom commercial water efficiency rebate (up to 50% of material cost, $10,000 a year cap). Xcel Energy serves most of the Front Range for gas and electric; Colorado Springs Utilities runs all four services in the Springs. NES bills at the serving utility's rate in each city.
Enforcement
C.R.S. 6-1-737 sits inside the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, so overbilling residents can be treated as a deceptive trade practice, open to both the attorney general and private claims. The fee rule sits in the landlord-tenant statutes, where an improper charge can be voided. Bill at cost, disclose the method in the lease, and keep the fee inside the 2% or $10 limit.
Colorado state rules
- Residential water, electric, and gas submetering are allowed in Colorado, and utilities cannot be provided to residents at a profit
- Under Colorado's price transparency law (HB 25-1090, effective January 1, 2026), residents cannot be billed more than the actual amount the utility charges
- Administrative or billing fees on resident utility bills are generally not allowed in Colorado, and shared or common-area utility costs must be excluded from what residents are allocated rather than passed through
- Where the lease provides for it, a limited billing fee is allowed on a utility the owner is billed for by a third party: 2% of the billed amount or $10 per month, but not both (C.R.S. 38-12-801(3)(a)(VI))
- Colorado leases must disclose how utilities are billed to residents
- For residential premises with building permits applied for on or after July 1, 2027, RUBS billing is not allowed, and each unit's gas, electric, and water service must be metered either by the utility or by a submeter (C.R.S. 6-1-737(4.5), added by HB 26-1013, effective March 26, 2026)
- Electric and gas service is provided by regulated utilities such as Xcel Energy or municipal utilities, overseen by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission
- Residents are billed for their measured usage, and the bill must show the water billing information
- NES tracks the current Colorado requirements so your property stays compliant
Local rules can vary by city and county, and some cities set their own requirements, which NES verifies for your exact address.
Official sources: Colorado PUC · Colorado General Assembly (HB 25-1090) · HB 26-1013 / C.R.S. 6-1-737(4.5) (RUBS conditions, 2027 metering rule) · City of Boulder Rental Licensing
General information only, not legal advice. Confirm current rules with the Colorado PUC or a qualified attorney.
Colorado submetering law
Stay compliant in Colorado.
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