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. Submetering also catches leaks early, lets you bill common-area usage accurately, and can raise the value of the property. Payback usually lands within 12 to 18 months.
For water, yes. Pennsylvania treats owners who submeter water for their own residents as landlords, not public utilities, so no PUC license is needed, and the main rule is the price cap in 66 Pa.C.S. § 1313: residents cannot be billed more than the utility would charge them directly. Electric submetering depends on the serving utility's PUC-approved tariff, and most tariffs only permit it in buildings whose electric service was installed before 1980. Gas properties on a master meter also carry Act 127 pipeline-safety duties, and NES tracks all of it.
Owners who submeter water for their own residents serve a defined group of tenants, not the public, so they are not public utilities and need no PUC certificate (66 Pa.C.S. § 102; Drexelbrook Associates v. Pa. PUC, 418 Pa. 430 (1965)). Utility service itself in Bucks County falls under the PA PUC. NES tracks the current Pennsylvania and local requirements for your address, so billing is set up to match the rule.
Water comes from the Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority, Aqua Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania American Water. 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 Philadelphia 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 a clear, no-obligation estimate.
No. NES installs nonproprietary meters that other companies can read, and extended warranties are available on our submeters. You're never locked in.