Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Electricity and water, paying the whole bill

[ann zabaldo (ann.zabaldo]

Oops

In my last message I forgot to identify that I'm writing from Takoma village 
Cohousing in Washington DC. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 1, 2015, at 5:48 PM, Ann Zabaldo <zabaldo [at] earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> Well. Some of our utilities are not metered. The bill is divided in Half.  We 
> each pay an equal share for half the bill and the other half is divided by 
> square footage. 
> 
> I am not a fan of this. Some households have multiple people in them 
> including renters and houses that have just one person end up subsidizing 
> that unit.
> 
> The best control you can have for energy use is a meter. When it cost people 
> they watch what they use.  Example here is our gas is not separately metered. 
> Households that have gas fireplaces can simply turn on the gas fireplace and 
> heat their house. And the rest of us pay for that Plus our own heating bill.
> 
> While your initial cost is lower for a single meter how would you ever be 
> able to tell where your energy cost are going in the future?
> 
> For gas you said you could use flowmeters to the homes. I'm not sure how you 
> would measure electric use.
> 
> When energy costs are low maybe this is seen as a savings. But his energy 
> costs rise which they always do I think it reads friction. 
> 
> No, I am definitely not a fan of Single metering. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Jul 1, 2015, at 5:29 PM, Susan Adams <sadams430 [at] gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> I believe, that some communities have found that there is a reduction in
>> cost if the electric company only has to read one meter, and send one bill.
>> 
>> On Wed, Jul 1, 2015 at 5:27 PM, Elizabeth Magill <pastorlizm [at] gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> Our water is one whole bill, and we don't figure individual household
>>> usage.
>>> 
>>> I'm confused as to why you would WANT one single bill if you are going to
>>> charge based on usage.
>>> 
>>> We have a challenge right now that electric to the carports is not
>>> individually metered. WHen that was for lights the amount was
>>> insignificant, but now that we have electric cars we wish it was metered.
>>> 
>>> -Liz
>>> (The Rev.) Elizabeth M. Magill
>>> www.worcesterfellowship.org
>>> www.mosaic-commons.org
>>> 508-450-0431
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On Jul 1, 2015, at 5:14 PM, Susan Adams <sadams430 [at] gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Hello all,
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> We are close to being ready to build Jubilee Coho.  We will be doing
>>>> EVERYTHING at once, site development, common house and all homes.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> It is our understanding that some coho communities have found a way to
>>> use
>>>> only one meter for electricity and one for water, rather than having a
>>>> meter for every home.  (Or in other words, to pay only one bill for
>>> each.)
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> If this is your M.O., how do you measure the usage by each household?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Is there a way to provide wifi for the entire site?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks for helping us out once again!
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Susan
>>>> 
>>>> --
>>>> *www.jubileecoho.com <http://www.jubileecoho.com>*
>>>> A great place to grow a family!
>>>> _________________________________________________________________
>>>> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
>>>> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
>>> 
>>> _________________________________________________________________
>>> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
>>> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> *www.jubileecoho.com <http://www.jubileecoho.com>*
>> A great place to grow a family!
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
>> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
> _________________________________________________________________
> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
> 
>