Submetering Program
Last reviewed September 2026NES Editorial, checked by the Billing & Compliance team
A full submetering program covers water, gas, and electric from install through billing.
What is a submetering program?
A submetering program is the full setup that tracks utility use in a multifamily property and bills residents for it. The meters are one part of that. NES runs programs that cover water, gas, and electric. Water meters find the high-use units and let you bill residents for what they run. Gas and electric meters do the same for heat and power, moving those costs to the residents who create them. The program ties it together: meters are read wirelessly so you get current usage data, residents are billed for their own use, and you get a single partner for installation, maintenance, and billing. NES has decades of submetering experience and an in-house bilingual support team that handles resident questions. We focus on properties with 80 or more units across more than 43 states. The goal is lower utility cost and better energy management without adding work for your staff.
What a program covers
- Water, gas, and electric submetering sized to the property
- Wireless daily reads so usage data stays current
- Resident billing handled end to end by NES
- Installation, maintenance, and ongoing support from one partner
What each utility contributes
Water submetering identifies the high-use units on the property, which lets the owner act on waste and bill residents for what they use. Gas submetering moves heating and hot water costs the owner was absorbing onto the residents who consume them. Electric submetering measures each unit's power on its own line. Run together under one program, the meters give the property current usage data across all three utilities, so high consumption gets spotted and addressed instead of discovered on the master bill.
One partner instead of many
The value of a program is that you are not stitching together a meter vendor, a billing company, and a support line. NES installs the meters, reads them, bills residents, maintains the equipment, and answers resident calls through an in-house bilingual team. Your staff approves the plan and provides access, and the rest runs in the background.
Where formula billing fits in a program
Not every unit can take a meter. Older buildings and shared plumbing sometimes make per-unit metering impractical. In those cases the program can use ratio or formula-based utility billing, which allocates the property's actual utility cost across units using factors like the number of occupants and the unit's square footage. It is a fair way to move cost to residents where meters are not an option.
The rules a program has to follow
Submetering is regulated by state and local laws that cover meter installation and maintenance, meter accuracy, and how residents may be billed, and the requirements vary by location and property type. A good program builds compliance in rather than treating it as the owner's problem. The NES compliance team keeps up with state and county regulations across more than 43 states, and the president and owner serves on the board of the Utility Management and Conservation Association.
Related questions
Get submetering and compliance updates
A short email when we publish new guides or a state changes its billing rules. No sales sequences, and you can unsubscribe any time.
We handle your email as described in our privacy policy.
Thinking about submetering your property?
NES installs the meters, reads them, and bills your residents, in-house since 1968. Send your property details for a free, no-obligation estimate.
Prefer a form? Open the quote page.