RUBS vs Submetering Recovery Calculator
Put in your unit count and your monthly water and sewer bill. You'll see what each method brings in and how long meters take to pay off.
Empty units have nobody in them, so occupied units cover the whole split.
Submetering brings in $16,560 more a year than RUBS.
Meters for this property cost about $40,000 and pay for themselves in about 29 months compared with RUBS. See financing options.
Get Options for My PropertyAssumptions (adjust any of them)
Only matters on a square footage or blended split.
No reliable public benchmark; published estimates run about 60 to 90%. Use your own RUBS income over the water bill if you have it.
At two NES properties the owner's cost fell 95% and 99%, counting the drop in use. 90% is a cautious default.
15.3% in the 2004 national study; 34% less in submetered units at a 337-unit NES property.
About $200 on average. Plumbing and meter type move it.
Leave at $0 if residents pay these utilities directly.
An estimate, not an offer. RUBS and submetering rules differ by state, city, and utility, so what your property can bill may be different.
How RUBS bills are split
The examples use a 100-unit property with a $6,000 monthly water and sewer bill. After a 10% common-area set-aside, $5,400 gets split among residents. These are common methods, not a list of what your property is allowed to use. Some states, cities, and water utilities limit or ban certain ones.
| Method | How it works | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Occupancy | Each unit pays its share of the people living on the property. | A unit with 2 of the 180 residents pays $60.00 |
| Square footage | Each unit pays its share of total floor area. Empty units keep their share, so the owner covers it. | An 850 sq ft unit, out of 85,000 sq ft, pays $54.00 |
| Blend | Part follows headcount and part follows floor area. | A 50/50 split of the two above is $57.00 |
| Common-area set-aside | The owner keeps a share for pools, laundry, and irrigation before anything is split. | 10% of $6,000 leaves $600 with the owner |
Put it in the lease
Most places that allow RUBS want the formula spelled out in the lease or an addendum before the first bill goes out. Some also want notice before you change the method, and in some a charge that wasn't disclosed up front can't be collected. What your lease needs depends on the state and city.
Check the rules for your property
RUBS isn't allowed everywhere. Some states don't allow it at all, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and North Carolina. Some cities and counties ban it even where the state allows it, like Cleveland and Toledo in Ohio, and Miami-Dade County and Fort Myers in Florida. Water utilities can add their own conditions too.
So don't take the numbers on this page as a yes for your building. Send us the address and the NES compliance team will research the state, county, city, and utility rules for that property, then tell you what you can bill and how. This page is general information, not legal advice.
Get your property's numbers
Send 12 months of master bills and a unit list. A specialist gets back to you within 1 business day, and the full recovery model follows within 5. We run both methods, so if RUBS suits your building better, we'll say so.
Sources
- NES 337-unit case study, submetered units used 34% less water than units not yet metered (3,868 vs 5,846 gallons per unit per month) and paid 36% less.
- National Multiple Family Submetering and Allocation Billing Program Study (2004), funded by the EPA, NAA, NMHC, and 11 water utilities; submetering saved 15.3%; no statistically significant savings from RUBS.
- NES, Submetering vs RUBS, NES property results: the owner's own water cost fell 95% and 99% after submetering.
- NES, How much does submetering cost, equipment and install average about $200 per unit.
- State and city examples reflect the rules NES's compliance team tracked in 2026. Rules change, so ask our compliance team to check your property before billing.