[jackwashere]

There is a main house and an office with bath on the side. I rented the house and office to two separate tenants. They share the electric bill. I am fishing for suggestions on how and what are the options to set up some sort of meter for the office. Even if I know how much power is used the power company charges are so complex it is not clearly apparent how one would divide up the charges based solely on usage.

Has anybody had a similar situation and solved it? I would love to hear about your ideas and what works and what does not.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,... The only way I know of to do that is, to split the service, 'n have the PoCo hook it up as 2 service entrances,....

 

[rjniles]

In most localities, sub metering is not allowed.

 

[circuitman]

i have to disagree with niles a little,if you submeter, you can not charge more than the power company charges. if you do trouble will follow. so what i'm saying is most likely do it, but you can't do it for a profit. but i would check your area first.:smile::smile::smile:

 

[MJenne]

Have you thought about just splitting the bill based on square footage percentages?

Yes, you could potentially install a system that would determine the split between the two tenants, but it likely won't be cheap or simple. I'm assuming you have one panel, so you would need to install measuring devices on all circuits going to the Office, and then deduct that load from the over all load. This gets messy if there are circuits / loads that are shared like a hot water heater or AC unit.

Good luck
MJ

 

[jimn]

I my area either utilities are include or not. You can split a service and meter separately on your own. The power company can of course. It's still single service but split meter. However this will cost you. If they utilities are included you need to estimate the consumption and build that into your rent. Tenant accepts the rental price or doesn't . Do you know what equipments is in the office ? Most small office equipment in this day is pretty low power consumption so the per sqft electric cost might be about equal between the house and the office . I assume you are paying for heat as well? If so and the office tenant does not have excessive power demands (larger laser printers , copiers, some artist tools, I would just split in the basis of sq ft.