How many bidders should we invite?

Three to five. Fewer and you have no real comparison. More and your team spends weeks scoring proposals that were never going to win. Screen for size and state coverage first, so everyone invited could actually do the job.

Should price be the biggest factor?

Usually not. Fee differences between capable providers tend to be small next to the cost of inaccurate bills, compliance mistakes or a transition that leaves properties unbilled for a month. The template weights price at 20 percent, and the public housing authority RFP cited above used 25.

Can we switch providers and keep our meters?

Often, yes, if the meters are nonproprietary and still working. Send the brand, model and age of your meters with the RFP and ask each bidder to say which ones they can read. NES takes over most brands without replacing working equipment.

How long does a transition take?

It depends on how many properties there are and whether the meters can be kept. Reusing working meters is the fast path. A good transition runs property by property, in parallel with the outgoing provider's last cycle, so no property goes a month without billing.

Is the template really free?

Yes. Download the Word file and the workbook, edit them however you like, and send them to anyone you want to bid, including companies other than NES.

Portfolio guide

Utility Billing RFP Template for Multifamily Portfolios

Updated November 2026

A free, editable utility billing RFP for multifamily portfolios: 44 questions, a scoring sheet and a fee sheet that shows what each bid really costs.

Quick answer

What should a utility billing RFP include?

A utility billing RFP should include five things. A property data sheet (units, which utilities are master-metered, how each property bills today, meter brand and age, and 12 months of utility bills). A scope that says which services are required. Questions grouped by billing accuracy, compliance, fees, equipment ownership, resident service, reporting, data security, transition and contract terms. A fee table every bidder fills in the same way, so you can compare annual cost to the owner and fees charged to residents. And published scoring weights. Bidders guess when the property data is missing, and the lowest quote on paper is rarely the lowest bill once every fee is added up.

44 questions in 10 sections, ready to edit
Word template plus a scoring and fee workbook
Fee sheet splits owner cost from resident fees
Suggested weights: accuracy, compliance, cost first
Sample timeline: about 8 weeks to award
Free to use, no form to fill out

Most utility billing RFPs ask about price per bill and little else. Then the contract gets signed, and the problems show up in places nobody asked about: estimated reads, a resident call center in another time zone, a late-fee split nobody noticed, meters only one company can read. This guide and the free template are built to surface those things before you sign.

It is written for regional property managers, asset managers and procurement teams putting a group of properties out to bid. That might be a new acquisition, a contract coming up for renewal, or a portfolio spread across three or four billing companies that you want on one.

Download the free utility billing RFP template

Two files. The Word document is the RFP itself, with every section below already written. The workbook has a scoring matrix, a fee comparison that turns each bid into an annual cost, and a property data sheet for bidders. Change anything you like. No email required.

When to run a utility billing RFP

A single 120-unit property can usually pick a provider after two or three calls. An RFP earns its keep when the decision covers several properties, several states, or a contract long enough that a bad pick costs years. The usual triggers:

An acquisition. The deal closes with someone else's billing contract, meters and lease addenda. Bidding it out in the first 90 days tells you what you bought and whether to keep it.
A renewal date. Many billing agreements renew automatically. Put the notice date on the calendar and start the RFP four to six months before it.
Too many vendors. Regional portfolios often end up with a different billing company in each market, each with its own reports and fees. Moving to one gives you one set of numbers.
Properties billing nothing. Master-metered properties where the owner still pays the whole water bill. That recovery is usually the largest dollar figure in the whole exercise. See utility expense recovery for the math.
Service complaints. Residents calling the leasing office about utility bills is a sign the billing company is not handling them.

Property data to send bidders with the RFP

Bidders can only price what they can see. If the RFP says "approximately 2,400 units in the Southeast," every proposal will be built on guesses and padded to cover them. The property data tab in the workbook asks for the following, and it is worth the afternoon it takes to fill in.

Unit count and address for each property

Why it matters: Rules are set by state, city and sometimes the utility, so bidders need the exact address to answer the compliance questions.

Which utilities are master-metered

Why it matters: Water and sewer are the usual ones. Trash, gas and electric change the scope and, in some states, what can be billed at all.

How each property bills today

Why it matters: Nothing, RUBS (a formula split), or submeters. This decides whether the job is a takeover, a conversion or a new program.

Meter brand, model and install year

Why it matters: Tells bidders whether they can read your meters or will quote new ones. Unreadable or proprietary meters are the biggest price swing.

12 months of master utility bills

Why it matters: The basis for any real recovery estimate. Without them, the recovery numbers in a proposal are guesses.

Property management software

Why it matters: Determines how charges post to resident ledgers and how much manual work lands on site teams.

Current billing contract and lease addendum

Why it matters: Shows the exit date and notice period, and lets bidders flag lease language that needs changing.

Property data to include with a utility billing RFP, and why bidders need each item.
What to send	Why it matters
Unit count and address for each property	Rules are set by state, city and sometimes the utility, so bidders need the exact address to answer the compliance questions.
Which utilities are master-metered	Water and sewer are the usual ones. Trash, gas and electric change the scope and, in some states, what can be billed at all.
How each property bills today	Nothing, RUBS (a formula split), or submeters. This decides whether the job is a takeover, a conversion or a new program.
Meter brand, model and install year	Tells bidders whether they can read your meters or will quote new ones. Unreadable or proprietary meters are the biggest price swing.
12 months of master utility bills	The basis for any real recovery estimate. Without them, the recovery numbers in a proposal are guesses.
Property management software	Determines how charges post to resident ledgers and how much manual work lands on site teams.
Current billing contract and lease addendum	Shows the exit date and notice period, and lets bidders flag lease language that needs changing.

Utility billing RFP questions that separate bidders

The template has 44 questions. If you only have room for a few, these are the ones where answers vary the most, and where a weak answer costs the most later.

Billing accuracy

Ask how often meters are read and what happens when a read is missing. A provider that estimates bills when a transmitter goes quiet will eventually send a resident an estimated bill that is wrong, and that resident will call your office. Ask for the share of bills sent on time and the share corrected after they went out over the last 12 months. A company that tracks both will have the numbers ready.

Ask one more question that sounds obvious: can a resident ever be billed more than the property paid the utility? The answer should be no, and the provider should explain how the system stops it. Common-area water (pools, irrigation, clubhouses, laundry) should stay with the owner.

Compliance by address

Do not accept "we are compliant in all 50 states." Ask the bidder to say, for each property address, which utilities can be billed and by which method. Rules differ by state and city and sometimes by utility. Texas requires water submetering registration with the Public Utility Commission. North Carolina requires a certificate from its Utilities Commission before residents are billed. Some cities ban billing back altogether. A bidder that answers property by property has done the work. See is submetering legal for how much this varies.

Also ask who files and renews the registrations, who writes the lease addendum, and how long bills and dispute records are kept. NES keeps a seven-year searchable archive on every account, which is the kind of answer you want in writing.

Fees, all of them

Ask for every fee charged to the owner and every fee charged to residents. Then ask three follow-ups. Is any part of the price a percentage of what gets recovered? Who keeps resident late fees and admin fees? Are residents charged a convenience fee to pay by card? Resident fees are not free just because the owner does not pay them. They show up in complaints, in collections and sometimes in front of a regulator.

Who owns the meters and the data

Ask whether the equipment is nonproprietary and whether another company could read it if you left. Proprietary meters are a common reason owners stay with a provider they are unhappy with. Ask who owns the usage and billing history, and how fast it comes back, in what format, when the contract ends. More on this in replacing proprietary submeters.

Who does the work

For each service in scope, ask whether the bidder's own employees do it or a subcontractor does. Installation, meter reading, the call center, payment processing and collections are often outsourced. Outsourcing is not automatically bad, but you should know who your residents are talking to and who to call when a meter stops reporting.

Resident money, bill pay and data security

A billing company handles resident payment data and bank deposits for every property it bills. Ask whether the company, or its payment processor, is validated against the current PCI DSS standard. Version 4 requirements that had been optional became mandatory on March 31, 2025 (opens in a new tab), so an older attestation is out of date. Ask for SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II reports. SOC 1 covers payment and remittance controls, SOC 2 covers data security, and both show how controls worked over months rather than on one day. Expect to sign an NDA to see them.

Then follow the money. Ask whether resident payments sit in a separate trust or custodial account for you, never mixed with the company's own funds, and ask for a sample monthly statement showing what was collected, what was withheld and what was paid to you. Ask what crime insurance covers you. If the company also pays your master utility bills, ask how many days before the due date it pays them and who covers a late fee when it pays late.

How to compare utility billing fees across bids

Billing proposals are almost never priced the same way. One quotes a monthly fee per occupied unit, another a fee per bill plus setup, a third a percentage of what is billed. Put side by side as written, they cannot be compared. The fee tab in the workbook turns every bid into two annual numbers: what the owner pays and what residents pay.

Setup or onboarding

Usually paid by: Owner
What to ask: Per unit or per property? Is it waived on a takeover of meters that already work?

Monthly service fee

Usually paid by: Owner
What to ask: Per occupied unit, per bill, or per unit whether occupied or not?

Vacant unit fee

Usually paid by: Owner
What to ask: Is there a charge for units with no resident to bill?

Percentage of recovery

Usually paid by: Owner
What to ask: On what base, and does it rise as utility rates rise?

Billing or admin fee

Usually paid by: Resident
What to ask: Is it capped by state law at any of our properties? Who keeps it?

Move-in or account fee

Usually paid by: Resident
What to ask: Allowed in each of our states?

Late fee

Usually paid by: Resident
What to ask: What amount, what grace period, and who keeps it?

Card convenience fee

Usually paid by: Resident
What to ask: Charged per payment? Is there a free way to pay?

Final bill or move-out fee

Usually paid by: Resident
What to ask: Charged on every move-out? Allowed in each of our states?

Returned payment (NSF) fee

Usually paid by: Resident
What to ask: What amount, and is it within state limits?

Bill pay fee

Usually paid by: Owner
What to ask: Per utility invoice paid, or included? Who pays late fees if the payment is late?

Meter repair and replacement

Usually paid by: Owner
What to ask: Price per unit during and after warranty? What does a test cost when a resident disputes a reading?

Early termination

Usually paid by: Owner
What to ask: What does it cost to leave in year one, two and three?

Common utility billing fees, who pays them, and what to ask about each.
Fee	Usually paid by	What to ask
Setup or onboarding	Owner	Per unit or per property? Is it waived on a takeover of meters that already work?
Monthly service fee	Owner	Per occupied unit, per bill, or per unit whether occupied or not?
Vacant unit fee	Owner	Is there a charge for units with no resident to bill?
Percentage of recovery	Owner	On what base, and does it rise as utility rates rise?
Billing or admin fee	Resident	Is it capped by state law at any of our properties? Who keeps it?
Move-in or account fee	Resident	Allowed in each of our states?
Late fee	Resident	What amount, what grace period, and who keeps it?
Card convenience fee	Resident	Charged per payment? Is there a free way to pay?
Final bill or move-out fee	Resident	Charged on every move-out? Allowed in each of our states?
Returned payment (NSF) fee	Resident	What amount, and is it within state limits?
Bill pay fee	Owner	Per utility invoice paid, or included? Who pays late fees if the payment is late?
Meter repair and replacement	Owner	Price per unit during and after warranty? What does a test cost when a resident disputes a reading?
Early termination	Owner	What does it cost to leave in year one, two and three?

Two pricing details matter more than the dollar amounts. A percentage of recovery means the provider's fee grows every time the water utility raises its rates, even though the work has not changed. A flat per-unit rate is easier to put in an underwriting model and budget the same way every year, which is how NES prices portfolio work.

Admin and late fees also need a compliance check before you count them as income. Some states cap them, some ban them, and the caps differ by utility. Texas, North Carolina, Indiana and Florida all have specific rules on what can be added to a resident's water bill.

How to score utility billing proposals

Publish the weights in the RFP. Bidders write better answers when they know what counts, and your team argues less at the end. These are the weights in the template. Adjust them, but be careful about letting price run past 25 or 30 percent. The difference in fees between two good bidders is usually small next to the cost of bad bills, missed compliance steps or a stalled transition.

Billing accuracy and operations

Weight: 15%
What earns a high score: Daily or frequent reads, no estimated bills, a pre-bill review each cycle, tracked on-time and correction rates

Compliance

Weight: 20%
What earns a high score: Answers by address, registrations handled, fee limits built into the system

Total annual cost

Weight: 20%
What earns a high score: Lowest combined owner cost and resident fees from the fee workbook

Resident service and collections

Weight: 15%
What earns a high score: In-house team, English and Spanish, published answer times, fair collections practices

Company, finances and security

Weight: 10%
What earns a high score: Experience, references, audited financials, insurance, a trust account for resident money, SOC and PCI reports

Equipment and contract terms

Weight: 10%
What earns a high score: Owner keeps nonproprietary meters, meter accuracy testing, fair exit terms, data returned

Reporting and software

Weight: 5%
What earns a high score: Charges post to your PMS, portfolio reports, leak alerts

Transition plan

Weight: 5%
What earns a high score: No billing gap, clear resident notices, recent track record

Suggested scoring weights for a multifamily utility billing RFP.
Criteria	Weight	What earns a high score
Billing accuracy and operations	15%	Daily or frequent reads, no estimated bills, a pre-bill review each cycle, tracked on-time and correction rates
Compliance	20%	Answers by address, registrations handled, fee limits built into the system
Total annual cost	20%	Lowest combined owner cost and resident fees from the fee workbook
Resident service and collections	15%	In-house team, English and Spanish, published answer times, fair collections practices
Company, finances and security	10%	Experience, references, audited financials, insurance, a trust account for resident money, SOC and PCI reports
Equipment and contract terms	10%	Owner keeps nonproprietary meters, meter accuracy testing, fair exit terms, data returned
Reporting and software	5%	Charges post to your PMS, portfolio reports, leak alerts
Transition plan	5%	No billing gap, clear resident notices, recent track record

Public RFPs land in a similar place. A 2024 utility billing RFP from the Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino (opens in a new tab) scored experience at 35 points, capacity and approach at 35, and cost at 25 out of 100.

Score with at least three people: someone from operations, someone from accounting or asset management, and someone who talks to residents. Have each score alone first, then compare. The scoring tab averages the weighted totals for you.

Utility billing RFP timeline: about eight weeks

About eight weeks from issue to award is a workable pace. Shorter, and bidders cannot get answers from your sites. Longer, and the people who wrote the RFP lose interest.

Week 0. Issue the RFP with the property data tab filled in.
Weeks 1 and 2. Site visits for bidders who want them. Written questions due at the end of week 2, and every answer goes to every bidder.
Week 4. Proposals due, with the fee workbook completed.
Weeks 5 and 6. Score, call references, and hold finalist presentations. Ask finalists to walk through a sample bill and a sample owner report.
Week 7. Negotiate the contract. Get service levels and exit terms in writing.
Week 8. Award. Give the current provider notice under its contract.
After award. Transition property by property, so billing never stops at any of them.

When you call references, ask for one client that switched to the bidder from another company. How the transition went is the best predictor of how yours will go. More on that in switching submetering providers.

Red flags in a utility billing proposal

Recovery promises without your bills. A projected recovery figure that was not built from your utility bills is a sales number.
Silence on estimated reads. If the proposal never says what happens when a read is missing, the answer is usually an estimate.
One compliance answer for every state. Rules are local. A blanket statement means nobody checked your addresses.
Meters only they can read. Proprietary equipment makes it expensive to ever leave.
Long automatic renewals. Multi-year renewals with steep early termination fees are there to protect the provider.
Resident money in the company's own account. Payments should sit in a trust or custodial account for you, with a monthly statement of what came in and went out.
No sample bill. Your residents will judge the program by the bill. If a bidder will not show you one, ask why.

Why portfolio owners choose NES for utility billing

If you are sending this RFP to NES, here is what we bring to it.

Privately owned since 1968. We have 200+ people and properties in 43+ states. We focus on communities of 80 units and up, and our large portfolio team runs multi-state accounts.
We do the work ourselves. Our own staff installs, reads, bills, answers residents and handles collections.
Compliance in-house. We check the rules for each address before we quote, handle filings like Texas PUC registration and North Carolina certificates, and keep a seven-year bill archive.
You own the meters. We install nonproprietary meters any qualified company can read, and we keep working meters of most brands when we take over.
Daily reads. Wireless meters report every day, and MyReads flags continuous flow like a running toilet.
Works with your software. Charges post to Yardi, RealPage, Entrata, AppFolio, ResMan, MRI, Rent Manager and AMSI, with portfolio-level reports.
Resident service in English and Spanish. Our own call center. Residents pay online, by autopay, ACH or card.
No long-term lock-in. Pricing is quoted for each property and portfolio, based on your bills, your meters and the services you choose.

Put NES in your next RFP

Send the RFP, or just a property list and 12 months of bills. A specialist replies within one business day, and a full recovery model follows within five business days. Or call (800) 572-7060.

Get a free quote (800) 572-7060

Common questions

Utility billing RFP questions

It is a request for proposal that asks resident utility billing companies to bid on billing a group of properties for water, sewer, trash and sometimes gas or electric. It lays out the properties, the services wanted, the questions every bidder must answer, how fees must be quoted and how bids will be scored.

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