Ratio utility billing (RUBS) passes a share of the property's utility cost to residents. The question an owner needs answered is simple: of what we paid, how much came back? Most billing reports never put those two numbers side by side.
The check
- Pull 12 months of utility bills (water, sewer, trash, gas, electric) and 12 months of the billing company's monthly reports.
- For each utility and month, divide the amount billed to residents by the amount the property paid for the same service period.
- Compare that recovery rate with occupancy. If 92% of units are occupied and billed, recovery should sit close to 92% less any common-area deduction in your formula.
- Where recovery runs well below that, ask the billing company for the setup: allocation factors, common-area deduction %, caps, and which charges are passed through.
Common causes
- Common-area deduction set higher than the property needs.
- Caps on resident charges that were never raised as costs rose.
- A month or cycle that was never billed (often after a utility changes its read dates).
- New services (stormwater, trash surcharges) added to the bill but not to the billing setup.
- Move-ins that never joined the program.