Individual Meters vs Master Meters

Utility companies provide electricity, natural gas, and water to homes and buildings. They use meters to measure how much of each service is used.

• Direct Meters (Individual):

  With individual meters:
  Each home or apartment has its own meter.
  The resident must set up an account with the utility company.
  The utility reads the meter, calculates how much was used, and sends a bill directly to the resident.
  This system allows residents to track their usage and get help if something looks wrong on the bill.

• Master Meters: In some places, like apartments, condominiums, or mobile home parks, a single meter measures how much electricity, gas, or water is used for the whole property. The property owner or manager gets the bill for the whole property and then decides how to divide the cost among the residents. However, residents don’t know exactly how much they use.
• Sometimes the owner splits the total cost evenly among all the apartments, or they may charge based on the size of the apartment. This system doesn’t help residents track their own usage or save on energy. Based on a survey commissioned by the Maryland Public Service Commission, in 2018 there were 840 electric master meter accounts and 3,393 natural gas accounts identified.

How master metered costs are divided (RUBS system):

1. Flat fee: The total utility cost is included in your rent or condo fee. The owner estimates what the costs will be.

2. Even split: The total cost is divided equally between all units, no matter how much each uses.

3. By apartment size: The cost is divided based on the size (square footage) of each unit, not actual usage.

4. Utility assistance and programs to reduce utility consumption are not typically available to master metered buildings since they are not individual billed customers. Individual residents do not know how much utility service they use, thus there is no incentive to reduce waste or take advantage of efficiency measures.

Submeters

Some buildings have sub-meters, which allow each unit to have its own internal meter after a master meter.