Ways To Save On Utility Costs
In many areas of the country, utility costs have increased at a much faster rate than rents. For those landlords paying for water, electricity, and gas, the costs of utilities usually represent the largest non-mortgage expense. Reducing utility costs is an important matter in property operations.
There are two basic approaches that a landlord can take to help control utility/energy costs:
- Implement conservation procedures, and
- Transfer costs to tenants.
Some of the ways to reduce utility costs include the following:
- Install tamperproof low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators.
- Rebuild leaking toilets, replacing large tanked toilets (Can reduce water costs by thousands of dollars for large apartment complexes where owner pays for water). Adequately monitor units for water leakage in toilets, sinks, tubs, showers, and laundry facilities whether water is paid for by tenants or owner. In addition to saving on the cost of water for tenants and/or owner, adequate monitoring can minimize the risk of damages to sink cabinets, flooring, and wall bases.
- Prevent the use of common area water for washing vehicles or other activities on paved areas to help keep the landlord’s water costs down. Replace outside faucets with caps or install locking faucets to eliminate use of water for washing vehicles and paved areas.
- Where the owner pays for heat in complexes having central heating, a new boiler and insulated piping can save hundreds a year, even thousands for large complexes.
- Have common area lighting on only when actually necessary via timers, motion sensors, and/or photo cells can result in significant savings. Install mechanical or electronic timer or motion sensor switches in laundry rooms to avoid lights left on for long periods when rooms are not occupied.
- Where possible, convert from house water, gas, and electric meters to individually metered units. Where not mechanically cost effective to convert to separate metering, allocate costs among units using a fair and legally acceptable allocation method.
- Install non-carbon energy systems such as solar water heating.
The cost of separate water, gas, and electric meters being installed by a utility service provider depends on both location of the property and how the property is plumbed. The cost of the meters themselves and the cost of necessary modifications can vary substantially depending on how the building is plumbed and wired.