Florida is often described as a light-touch state for multifamily utility billing, and at the state level that is broadly true. There is no equivalent to Colorado’s recent wave of legislation, and no statewide mandate pushing properties toward submetering. But “lightly regulated” is not the same as “unregulated,” and Florida has a structure that catches owners off guard: the rule most people cite as the statewide cap on water billing fees does not actually apply statewide, and the county and municipal rules that fill the gap can be far stricter.
This post covers where Florida law stands on Ratio Utility Billing Systems (RUBS) and submetering, and what to check before launching a program.
Submetering and RUBS: The Two Billing Methods
Submetering means installing additional meters behind the property’s master meter to measure consumption in each individual unit. Residents are billed for exactly what they use, which ties cost directly to behavior and reliably reduces consumption across a property.
Ratio Utility Billing System (RUBS) allocates the property’s total utility cost among residents using a formula, such as occupancy, square footage, a blend of the two, or an equal split, rather than a meter reading. No unit-level meters are required, but the method cannot capture an individual household’s actual usage.
For a fuller walkthrough of each, see our guides on how submetering works and what RUBS is.
The Legal Framework in Florida
Chapter 367 and the 9% Resale Exemption
Water is where Florida’s most-cited number lives, and it is the number most frequently misapplied.
Chapter 367, Florida Statutes, governs water and wastewater utility regulation by the Florida Public Service Commission, and § 367.022 lists who is exempt from being regulated as a utility. Two exemptions matter to multifamily owners:
- § 367.022(8) exempts anyone reselling water or wastewater service at a rate that does not exceed the actual purchase price.
- § 367.022(9) exempts anyone reselling water service to tenants or individually metered residents for a fee that does not exceed the actual purchase price plus the actual cost of meter reading and billing, not to exceed 9 percent of the actual cost of service.
Two things are worth being precise about. First, 9% is a ceiling on recovering actual meter reading and billing cost; it is not a 9% margin you are entitled to add. If your actual billing cost is lower, the lower number is the limit. Second, and more importantly, this is not a billing rule at all. It is a jurisdictional threshold: it describes the point at which a reseller stops being exempt and starts being a PSC-regulated utility, with the certification requirements that follow.
That distinction is the reason the next section matters.
The 9% Figure Only Applies Where the PSC Has Jurisdiction
This is the part of Florida’s structure that most surprises owners operating across multiple markets, and it is where a lot of industry guidance is simply wrong.
The PSC does not regulate water and wastewater utilities everywhere in Florida. Under § 367.171, individual counties decide whether to place those utilities under PSC jurisdiction. Counties that have done so are jurisdictional; those that have not are non-jurisdictional, and regulation falls to the county itself. As of 2024 the PSC had jurisdiction over investor-owned water and wastewater utilities in roughly 40 of Florida’s 67 counties.
Because the 9% allowance exists only as an exemption from PSC regulation, it is only meaningful where PSC regulation is on the table in the first place. In a non-jurisdictional county, there is no PSC jurisdiction to be exempt from, and so no statewide 9% ceiling to rely on. What governs instead is the county’s own ordinance and the rules of the serving utility, which may permit more, may permit less, and in some markets permit nothing at all.
The practical consequence: “Florida allows a 9% billing fee” is not a statement you can act on portfolio-wide. It is accurate for a reseller in a jurisdictional county, and it tells you nothing about what you may charge in the rest of the state. A program designed once and rolled out across a Florida portfolio on that assumption will be out of compliance in some of those markets.
One further wrinkle worth knowing: most Florida multifamily water is supplied by a city or county government utility, and government-owned systems are exempt from PSC regulation entirely under § 367.022(2). The supplier’s exemption does not automatically resolve the reseller’s position, but it does mean the serving utility’s own rules, and the local ordinance, are usually the documents that actually govern your program.
Local Ordinances Often Add Another Layer
Because state law leaves so much room, Florida’s real regulatory variation happens at the county and municipal level, and it is not evenly distributed. Some markets have essentially no local rules on multifamily utility billing. Others have detailed ordinances with registration requirements, mandatory bill formats, and their own limits on what may be charged.
Miami-Dade County is the clearest example. The county’s remetering ordinance is one of the most detailed local utility billing regimes in the country: it requires registration, prohibits any profit on water resale, excludes common-area water from what residents can be billed, dictates what a resident bill must contain, caps late fees, and bars partial submetering. An owner who is fully compliant in a jurisdictional county elsewhere in Florida can be in violation in Miami on day one.
We cover that regime in detail in our post on the Miami-Dade County remetering license and utility billing requirements.
The broader point applies statewide: before launching or converting a program, confirm the rules of the specific county, municipality, and serving utility rather than assuming Florida is uniform. It is not.
A Florida Compliance Checklist
- Jurisdiction first. Is the property in a PSC-jurisdictional county or not? That determines whether the Chapter 367 exemption framework is even the right reference point.
- Local rules. Have you confirmed the county and municipal requirements for each property, including any registration obligation, any local limit on what may be billed, and any restriction on billing back common-area consumption?
- Fee basis. If you are recovering meter reading and billing cost, is it based on actual cost and within whatever limit actually applies to that property?
- Lease disclosure. Does the lease or addendum clearly state that the unit is submetered or allocated, and how?
Benefits and Trade-offs
Both methods recover utility cost far more accurately than building it into rent or charging a flat fee, and both create a conservation incentive. Submetering produces the strongest response because the signal reaches the individual household, and it sidesteps disputes over allocation fairness entirely.
The trade-offs are the familiar ones: submetering carries upfront capital cost and requires maintenance to keep readings accurate, while RUBS avoids that cost but invites disagreement in buildings with wide variation in occupancy or unit size. In Florida specifically, submetering also has a structural advantage: where a local ordinance regulates individualized billing, it is usually written around submetered service, and allocation-based billing can sit awkwardly against it or be prohibited outright.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is RUBS legal in Florida?
At the state level, yes. Florida does not prohibit allocation-based billing of water costs. Local ordinances may restrict or prohibit it, and some require full submetering instead, so the answer depends on the county and municipality.
Can a Florida landlord profit on utility billing?
No. Water resale is limited to the actual purchase price. Where the PSC has jurisdiction, a reseller may also recover the actual cost of meter reading and billing up to 9 percent of the actual cost of service without becoming a regulated utility. In non-jurisdictional counties, the applicable limit is set locally and may be lower or zero.
Is the 9% water billing fee allowed everywhere in Florida?
No. It comes from an exemption to PSC regulation under § 367.022(9), so it is only relevant in counties that have placed water and wastewater utilities under PSC jurisdiction. Elsewhere, county ordinances and the serving utility’s rules govern.
Does Florida require submetering on new construction?
There is no statewide submetering mandate for multifamily. Some local jurisdictions impose their own requirements on new multifamily permits. Miami-Dade, for example, has required a submeter for each dwelling unit on new multifamily permit applications since 2009.
Getting It Right
Florida’s light state-level regulation is genuinely an advantage for owners, but it shifts the compliance burden onto knowing your specific market. The properties that get into trouble are usually the ones that standardized a program across a portfolio without checking what the county requires.
With more than 20 years of experience in meter installation and utility billing, UMS designs and operates water submetering systems and resident billing programs built around each jurisdiction’s requirements. Whether you are converting an existing Florida property or planning a new one, we would like to be in that conversation early.
Get a quote or call 877-934-4346 to speak with an expert.
This article is provided for general information and is not legal advice. Consult counsel regarding your specific properties and lease documents.