SERVICE / SUPPLY
Growing Benefits of Water Submetering
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by Matt Laird
Community owners and managers often ask the question, “Should we submeter our water services to the homes?” There has always been a great financial case to do so, and with new advancements in wireless communications and data analytics, the question has become: “How fast can we get our park submetered?” A clear benefit to community owners is to subdivide the increasingly large utility bill from their local water utility and distribute these costs to the people consuming the water. The return on investment here is generally less than one year, immediately improving the owner’s cash flow and increasing property value.
Technological advancements in meters and their reading systems now allow owners to: • Pass on greater water costs due to improved accuracy of the meters. • Improve customer service to their residents by automatically alerting them to wasteful water usage, empowering reduced consumption and cost savings. • Identify leaks in individual homes - notifying homeowners the day the leak is detected, allowing a further reduction in the resident’s individual bill. • Identify large and very costly leaks in the park’s piping infrastructure, that, when fixed can drastically reduce the park’s utility bill and improve the value of the property. »
2020 STATE OF THE INDUSTRY • MHINSIDER.COM | 73
