Colorado's price transparency law caps what residents can be billed at the actual utility cost, and most billing fees are not allowed. NES installs the submeters, reads them daily, and bills your residents across Denver. Get a free bid.
NES handles water, gas & electric submetering for apartment communities, condominiums, and mobile home parks across Denver and the Denver area. Install, meter reading, resident billing, and compliance, all handled in-house since 1968.
NES serves multifamily properties in Denver, where the building code has required a water meter on each unit in new multifamily construction since 2004. The current code exempts units served by a central water heating system, but many buildings put up in the last twenty years already have the hardware, and the owner is responsible for maintaining it. Denver Water bills master-metered apartment buildings on nonresidential tiers keyed to each account's own winter use: $3.55 per 1,000 gallons up to that baseline, $4.97 up to four times it, and $5.68 above that, with drought surcharges of $1.10 and $2.20 on the upper tiers from May 2026 through April 2027. Xcel Energy supplies electric and gas. Two state rules apply to the billing: residents as a group can be charged no more than the property's actual utility cost, and any project permitted on or after July 1, 2027 must meter every unit for water, gas, and electric. Denver Water's commercial rebate covers up to half the material cost of submeters. NES bills each unit at Denver Water's rate and handles the rebate paperwork.
Yes. Submetering is allowed in Denver, Colorado, with some restrictions.
Owners cannot bill residents above the utility's cost, and NES handles the requirements for you.
What we submeter
Water & sewer
Per-unit water and sewer metering with 24-hour leak alerts.
Natural gas
Gas meters on each unit, read and billed the same way as water.
Electric
Electric submetering on nonproprietary meters you own.
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 Denver requirements
Water is provided by Denver Water, and electricity and natural gas by Xcel Energy under a franchise agreement with the City and County of Denver
Denver's building code (Section 401.3.2 of its plumbing amendments, in place since the 2004 code) requires each dwelling unit to be metered so its water use can be recorded and billed, unless the units are served by a central water heating system, and the owner maintains and repairs the meters
Master-metered apartment buildings sit in Denver Water's nonresidential rate class, billed in three tiers off the account's own average winter use, with 2026 drought surcharges of $1.10 and $2.20 per 1,000 gallons on the upper tiers from May 2026 through April 2027
Denver Water's custom commercial rebate covers up to 50 percent of the material cost of submeters, capped at $10,000 per entity per year, and rebates over $2,500 need pre-approval
For electric billing in Denver, fees are allowed only with restrictions, and the fees plus the resident's total bill cannot exceed the utility's own bill
We serve Denver and nearby communities, including Aurora, Lakewood, Arvada, Westminster, Thornton, Centennial, and Englewood
Our compliance team rechecks Colorado and local requirements before billing starts.
How NES keeps you compliant
Tracks every Colorado and local rule that affects your property
General information only, not legal advice; NES assumes no liability for reliance. Confirm current rules with the Colorado PUC or a qualified attorney.
Why owners in the Denver area use NES
Per gallon. Residents pay for what they actually use.
15-30%. Lower utility consumption.
Under 24 hr. Leaks flagged the same day.
What happens after you call
Step 1
Free assessment
We review your master-meter bills and unit count, then model what you would recover. There is no charge for this.
Step 2
Install meters
We install nonproprietary meters at each unit. The equipment is yours, and other companies can read it.
Step 3
Read & detect
Daily reads pull usage automatically and flag leaks within 24 hours, before they run up a bill.
Step 4
Bill & support
We bill residents, pay the master-meter utility, and field resident questions in-house, in English and Spanish.
Real NES results
140-home community, New MexicoWater & sewer
$264 / yr
owner's annual water and sewer cost, down from $26,400
Before submetering$26,400 / yr
After submetering$264 / yr
The owner had been absorbing the whole master-meter bill. After metering each home, residents paid for what they used. Figures from NES property records.
130-home park, TexasWater & sewer
$6,600 / yr
annual water and sewer cost, down from $120,000
Before submetering$120,000 / yr
After submetering$6,600 / yr
The park also gained more than $113,000 in annual revenue once each home was billed for its own use. Figures from NES property records.
Real NES properties. Results vary by property, utility rates, and resident mix.
Submetering in nearby Colorado cities
NES installs and runs submetering across Colorado. See the rules and results for other communities we serve.
Utility submetering puts a meter on each unit that measures and bills its water/sewer, gas, and electric use. The technology has been around since the early 1920s. NES installs the meters, reads them, pays the master-meter bill, and bills your residents, all in-house and with bilingual support.
When residents pay for what they actually use, they cut back. Most properties see 15 to 30 percent lower water use. Daily reads also catch leaks early, and common-area water stops getting spread across everyone's rent. Payback usually lands within 12 to 18 months.
Yes. Residential water, electric, and gas submetering are allowed in Colorado, and owners cannot bill residents above the actual utility cost. Colorado's price transparency law (HB 25-1090, effective January 1, 2026) confirms that combined resident charges cannot exceed the master utility bill, and most billing fees are not allowed. For residential premises with building permits applied for on or after July 1, 2027, RUBS is not allowed and every unit must be submetered or billed directly by the utility. Electric and gas are provided by regulated utilities under the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. NES tracks every requirement so your property stays compliant.
Residential water, electric, and gas submetering are allowed in Colorado, and utilities cannot be provided to residents at a profit. Utility service itself in Denver falls under the Colorado PUC. NES tracks the current Colorado and local requirements for your address, so billing is set up to match the rule.
Water is provided by Denver Water, and electricity and natural gas by Xcel Energy under a franchise agreement with the City and County of Denver. NES works with whichever provider serves your property, installs the submeters, reads them, pays the master-meter bill, and bills your residents in-house across the Denver area.
Most submetering installs pay for themselves within 12 to 18 months through the utility cost you recover. We'll run the numbers on your actual master-meter bills and unit count, then send you an estimate. You are not signing anything.
No. NES installs nonproprietary meters that other companies can read, The meters are yours, and extended warranties are available if you want one.
See what your Denver property can recover.
Send us your master-meter bills and unit count. We’ll run the numbers on your actual property and get back to you within one business day with an estimate.