Resident Utility Billing
Two ways to run resident billing
Every property picks the model that fits how it already operates. Both use the same billing engine, the same resident portal, and the same call center.
UMS collects. The most hands-off option. We invoice residents, accept payment by credit card, debit card, check, or e-check, reconcile the funds, and send the property a monthly reimbursement. Because residents pay us directly, we take on a larger share of resident inquiries and payment follow-up.
Property collects. Residents pay utilities together with rent, to the property. We calculate the charges and push them through an API directly into the resident ledger in your property management system, so your team never re-keys a number. When a resident gives notice, we can produce a final bill on demand so the move-out statement is complete and the deposit can be settled without waiting for the next billing cycle. Residents can still call our contact center with questions about their bill.
Not sure which fits? Most owners who want utilities to feel like part of the rent choose property collects. Owners who want billing fully off their staff’s plate choose UMS collects. We can also switch a property from one model to the other later.
Resident billing that meets your needs
Resident utility billing recovers the water, sewer, gas, electric, and trash costs that would otherwise come out of your operating budget. UMS has billed residents on behalf of multifamily owners and managers for more than 20 years and currently serves more than 100,000 units in all 48 contiguous states, including nearly 40,000 in our home state of Minnesota. We calculate each resident’s charges from submeter reads or a RUBS allocation, produce the invoices, answer resident questions from a US-based contact center, and either collect the payments ourselves or post the charges straight into your property management software.
Submetered billing or RUBS: we run both
- Submetering involves installing additional meters, called submeters, behind the master meter to measure the usage for each individual unit within a property. The “sub-“ prefix means the meter is “under” or “below” the main meter and therefore measuring usage further down the line. Submetering allows tenants to be billed for their individual consumption and results in lower utility usage since tenants are aware of, and responsible for, their consumption – and only their consumption. This creates a direct correlation between tenant usage and tenant charges and therefore a financial motivation for tenants to reduce their utility usage. This system provides an accurate and precise way to bill tenants for their utility usage. If your property is a new construction, UMS can install a fully wireless (and remotely read) submetering system. We also work with existing properties to install retrofits or connect to existing submetering systems.
- Ratio Utility Billing System (RUBS) is a billing method used by landlords to allocate utility costs to tenants based on an allocation factor when there is no submetering system. This factor could be based on the number of occupants, square footage, a combination of square footage and occupancy, or equally to all units. Individual submeters for each unit are not required since the total utility charges for the building are simply allocated back to tenants. This system provides an accurate way to bill tenants for their utility usage but lacks the precision to bill tenants for their individual consumption.
Submetering
- Water Submeter Installation
- Gas Submeter Installation
- Electric Submeter Installation
- Remote Submeter Reading
- Fully Wireless Submetering
- Running Toilet Detection
Tenant Billing
- 100% US-Based Contact Center
- Intuitive Resident Portal
- Accurate Tenant Invoicing
- UMS Collections
- Property Collections
- Integrated with PM Softwares
Expense Management
- Bill Payment Services
- Vacant Cost Recovery
- Save Time & Reduce Late Fees
- Increase Net Operating Income
- Up to 100% Recovery with RUBS
- Review Utility Bills for Max Recovery
Onboarding a new property
A responsive property can be live in about a week. The process has five steps:
- Agreement. You sign the billing agreement.
- Setup information. We collect a short setup form, your rent roll, recent utility bills, and your utility lease addendum, and we check the property against the state and local regulatory database to confirm the billing method is compliant.
- Property build. We create the property in our billing platform: billing methods, utility bill templates, rent roll and meter imports, unit-to-meter mapping, resident online payments and ACH, and property reimbursements.
- Training and test billing. We run a mock pre-bill and sample resident invoices for your review, set billing caps and rate-change tracking if needed, create logins and report access, and walk your team through the portal.
- First bills. We produce the first billing cycle in-house and review it with you, then move to the standard monthly cycle.
“UMS has been great! We onboarded 8 properties in a short time, and they made the onboarding process easy. Their staff is knowledgeable and helpful in answering any questions our managers or tenants have.”
— Rosa Mujica, Portfolio Manager, Skyline Real Estate Services LLC
The UMS Advantage
UMS has been serving the multifamily housing industry for over 20 years. We handle all types of installations and excel at maintaining submetering systems long after installation is complete. Our onboarding process is reliable, and we always provide personalized training and a dedicated agent to support your team. Join the thousands of others who trust UMS to meet their resident billing, bill payment, and submetering needs.
Integrated with your property management software
We integrate with Yardi, RealPage, Entrata, AppFolio, and Rent Manager, and we can work with any property management system. Charges post automatically to resident ledgers, move-ins and move-outs flow to us from your rent roll, and your team keeps working in the system it already knows.
Frequently asked questions
Can residents pay online?
Yes. The resident portal accepts credit card, debit card, and e-check, and residents can also mail a check.
Who answers resident questions about their bill?
Our 100% US-based contact center, under either collection model.
How are charges calculated?
From submeter reads where meters are installed, or by a RUBS allocation based on occupancy, square footage, or a combination, applied to the actual master bill. We never bill residents more in total than the utility charged the property.
How fast can a property go live?
About a week when the property returns setup documents promptly.
Do you handle vacant units?
Yes. Our Vacant Cost Recovery service tracks utility use in vacant units so those costs are not lost.
Contact Us
Contact us today for more information or fill out our form for a free quote. It never hurts to shop around and we’re confident you’ll like what you find at UMS.