Submetering

Submetering is a technology that allows individual water billing for each condominium. It applies only to residential water (water used inside condominiums and the exterior hose spigot), not irrigation water (lawn and garden sprinklers). The Association purchases submeters, a submetering company installs them on existing water valves, and provides meter reading and billing services. (More information - link to Water Project document.)


Goals of Submetering

  • Increase Association funds - Additional funding can forestall future dues increases, build our reserve fund that pays for major projects like roof replacements, cover increases in contractual costs such as landscape fees, and pay for unpredictable costs like plumbing repairs.

  • Establish a fair method for owners to pay for residential water - Today, regardless of the amount of water used, each homeowner pays the same amount from monthly dues. Average bills for 2021 varied from $171 to $489 per triplex per bi-monthly bill. Top water users pay for less water than they use. Owners with the lowest water use subsidize the top users.

  • Create an equitable way to increase funding for the Association - Partially funding the Association based on water consumption is a fairer way to create funding than a one-size-fits-all dues-based funding system.

  • Reduce water consumption - Typically people reduce water use when they pay water bills directly.

Benefit to the Association

It is very difficult to predict total water expenditures, but the estimated financial benefit to the HOA is approximately $22,000 annually. Total residential water very likely will decrease once submetering starts because people typically use less water when they pay water bills directly. Also, the Association will continue to pay for cold laundry water due to the inability to meter individual laundry rooms. Both factors lower individual water bills compared to 2021. However, neither can be measured precisely based on current metering.

Residential Water Cost

The total cost for all water, residential and irrigation, over the past twelve months (6 bi-monthly bills paid January - November, 2021) was $69,598. Of that amount, $32,392 (47%) was for residential water and $37,206 (53%) was for irrigation water. (INSERT GRAPH OF 2021 WATER PAYMENTS)



Submetering Cost

The startup cost of submetering will be approximately $17,000 and covers purchase and installation of submeters. It will be paid from the HOA’s reserve funds. Other costs paid by the HOA are meter repairs and replacement, meter re-certification (beginning nine years after installation), and laundry cold water.

Homeowners pay individual water bills, including a service fee of $5.35-$6.00 per month.

Billing and payment comparison

Today the Association pays all water bills. Owners fund the payments indirectly through monthly dues. The San Diego Water Authority reads water meters every other month and sends bi-monthly bills to our management company, Castle Breckenridge Management, who pays the bills.

With submetering, the Association hires a submeter company and purchases submeters. The company installs a submeter on each condominium water valve located in the breezeways of each building.

The submeter company reads each submeter, then bills owners for the amount of water used plus a service fee. The owner (or tenant) pays the submeter company. The company then sends the payments to the Association (Castle Breckenridge Management). The funds are used to reimburse the Association for residential water payments made to the San Diego Water Authority. (The Water Authority continues to read meters and bill the Association.)

Start-Up

Due to lengthy equipment shipping time and long meter verification schedules by the San Diego County Bureau of Weights and Measures, it takes six to nine months or longer, after contract signing to start submetering. If a contract was signed in January, 2022, for example, the project would start in late 2022 or early 2023.