My long term rental property houses 8 families and due to the city’s metering, I have always included the water in the monthly rent as it’s much simpler. In recent months as the water rates have increased, it’s been harder to factor in how much the bills will be and factor in to the rental rates. I’ve noticed that the tenants don’t tend to conserve when they have no concept of how much they’re using or how much it costs.

While I still haven’t switched to independent unit billing, putting a single bluebot on the whole building’s water main and sharing with all 8 townhouses have shown everyone has been a little more conscious toward their usage and we’ve managed to go from the 3rd tier (highest rate) to the 2nd tier which has saved me an average of $450 each month.

Something I’m also able to consider in the future with how easy and universal bluebot is, is placing one on each unit’s water line and splitting up the bill according to each unit’s usage. If the California water rates continue to rise in the future, we’ll be going that route as it will be the most transparent way for everyone to feel comfortable with the change in billing, and it’ll be great for my bottom line.