Most Washoe County apartment communities sit on a single Truckee Meadows Water Authority (TMWA) master meter, and the owner eats the bill. NES installs the submeters, reads them daily, pays the master-meter bill, and bills your residents for their own use. Get a free bid.
NES handles water, gas & electric submetering for apartment communities, condominiums, and mobile home parks across Washoe County and the Reno-Sparks area. Install, meter reading, resident billing, and compliance, all handled in-house since 1968.
Reno and Sparks have added apartments faster than almost any metro their size, from Midtown and downtown to South Reno, Spanish Springs, and Damonte Ranch. Truckee Meadows Water Authority supplies the water, the cities bill sewer, and NV Energy covers both electric and gas. Nevada has no apartment submetering statute, so the lease sets the terms and NES passes each utility through at cost, with the billing method spelled out for residents up front.
Yes. Submetering is allowed in Washoe County, Nevada, with some restrictions.
Nevada has no submetering-specific statute for apartments, so the lease governs, 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.
Rules & compliance
Submetering rules & laws in Washoe County
Governing rule: no Nevada submetering statute for apartments (lease-governed)
Nevada state rules
Nevada has no statewide submetering statute for apartments, so water, gas, and electric submetering and allocation billing are governed by the lease and are widely used
NES sets up billing to pass through the utility's charges at cost, with any administrative fee spelled out in the lease
As a best practice, the total billed to residents should not exceed what the property pays the serving utility
The lease must disclose how utilities are billed to residents
Nevada's separate mobile-home-park utility-billing rules (NAC 704.980 to 704.991, PUCN) apply to manufactured-home communities, not conventional apartments
Each bill must show the charges and the meter readings, and NES tracks the current requirements
Local Washoe County requirements
Water is provided by the Truckee Meadows Water Authority (TMWA), with sewer billed by the City of Reno or the City of Sparks
Electricity and natural gas are both provided by NV Energy
Neither the county nor TMWA has a submetering rule, so the lease sets the terms and NES passes the utility's charges through at cost
We serve communities across Washoe County, including downtown Reno, Midtown, South Reno, Northwest Reno, Spanish Springs, the Sparks Marina and Victorian Square, Somersett, and Damonte Ranch
Nevada rules change from time to time. NES keeps track and updates your billing when they do.
How NES keeps you compliant
Tracks every Nevada and local rule that affects your property
General information only, not legal advice; NES assumes no liability for reliance. Confirm current rules with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada or a qualified attorney.
Why owners in the Reno 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 Nevada cities
NES installs and runs submetering across Nevada. 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. Nevada has no statewide submetering statute for apartments, so water, gas, and electric submetering and allocation billing are governed by the lease and widely used. NES sets up billing to pass through the utility's charges at cost, with any fees spelled out in the lease, and as a best practice the total billed should not exceed what the property pays the utility. (The PUCN's NAC 704.985 utility-billing rule applies to mobile-home parks, not apartments.) NES tracks the requirements so your property stays compliant.
Nevada has no statewide submetering statute for apartments, so water, gas, and electric submetering and allocation billing are governed by the lease and are widely used. Utility service itself in Washoe County falls under the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada. NES tracks the current Nevada and local requirements for your address, so billing is set up to match the rule.
Water is provided by the Truckee Meadows Water Authority (TMWA), with sewer billed by the City of Reno or the City of Sparks. 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 Reno-Sparks 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 Washoe County 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.