Re: Electricity metering [was: Dear Cohousing Community | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Chuck Harrison (cfharrgmail.com) | |
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2021 13:29:32 -0800 (PST) |
Yes On Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 12:59 PM Ken Winter <ken [at] sunward.org> wrote: > A couple years ago, Sunward Cohousing installed a submetering system for > our *water* bills. We're very happy with it: It has solved equity > problems (our households, no matter how big or thirsty, *used *to pay > equally for the collective water usage), our consumption is down by > ~20%, and the web-based meter system issues automatic alerts of potential > leaks and higher-than-expected consumption. > > I've been meaning to write an article on this for cohousing.org or some > such medium, but I don't know how much interest there is from other coho > communities. Maybe I'll use this occasion to test the waters. Is anybody > reading this interested in knowing more about the whys, whats, and hows of > submetering? > > ~ Ken Winter > ~ Sunward Cohousing > > On Mon, Jan 11, 2021 at 3:03 PM Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L < > cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote: > > > > Chris Roth - Communities Editor <editor [at] gen-us.net> > > > > > At Lost Valley, each individual electric meter has … a > > > monthly charge (at least $10 apiece monthly, charged for each of the > > > less-than-five-minute visits/readings by the power company person) has > > > at times exceeded the actual additional electricity charge on some of > > > those meters.— And even though we've talked > > > about the desirability of reducing the number of meters to save costs, > > > we've also talked about increasing it, as some people likely consume > > > five or ten times as much electricity in their individual units (by > > > keeping the heat cranked up, etc.) as others do > > > > This is called sub-metering and is possible. I don’t know the costs but > > with a $10 charge for even reading meters, it sounds like it might be > worth > > it. The complex then has one meter and there are sub-meters inside each > > unit (or some other convenient spot). The meters can be read from outside > > the unit using wifi or bluetooth or something. > > > > If the minimum account charge is $30-40, many people will just be paying > > for having an account, not for each kwh unless they go over the minimum. > > And they may not. > > > > One intentional community (don’t remember which) put individual readers > in > > the front hall of units where residents could see them. They had large > > faces like clocks and that dramatically reduced usage. > > > > People worry about one or more households being wasteful users or > > whatever, but when I think about each of our households, I don’t think > any > > of them would be wasteful. Some have more people or are larger or are > home > > more, so there would be a variation but you could charge per adult > (regular > > residents, not occasional guests). > > > > One of our residents had an electric bill of $8 a month when others were > > $80 a month. She worked long hours away from home, had a 615 SF south > > facing unit, didn’t use her dishwasher or her dryer, and controlled her > > thermostat. > > > > (Our single meter water bill has greatly increased with all the people > > working from home. The treasurer was asking about a leak somewhere until > we > > realized what caused it.) > > > > Sharon > > ---- > > Sharon Villines > > Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC > > http://www.takomavillage.org > > > > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at: > > http://L.cohousing.org/info > > > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at: > http://L.cohousing.org/info > > > >
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Electricity metering [was: Dear Cohousing Community Fred-List manager, January 11 2021
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Re: Electricity metering [was: Dear Cohousing Community Sharon Villines, January 11 2021
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Re: Electricity metering [was: Dear Cohousing Community Ken Winter, January 11 2021
- Re: Electricity metering [was: Dear Cohousing Community Katherine Lavine, January 11 2021
- Re: Electricity metering [was: Dear Cohousing Community Chuck Harrison, January 11 2021
- Re: Electricity metering [was: Dear Cohousing Community Mark Owkes, January 11 2021
- Re: Electricity metering [was: Dear Cohousing Community Bryan Bowen, January 11 2021
- Re: Submetering of Water Bills (and other utilities) Ken Winter, January 17 2021
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Re: Electricity metering [was: Dear Cohousing Community Ken Winter, January 11 2021
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Re: Electricity metering [was: Dear Cohousing Community Sharon Villines, January 11 2021
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