Re: Water usage

@KC said:
Hi All

Currently in our block of 12 units, there is one water meter which services all 12 units. Bills are received quarterly and divided up evenly between the units to pay. This hasn’t been a problem until the past couple of years when the water bills have fluctuated madly (sometimes almost doubling between quarters). We know it’s not a leak issue as we have checked the mains so obviously one (or more) units are causing this spike. Has anyone had any experience in retro fitting meters or loggers to pre-existing units like this so we are able to monitor individual unit usage. I have heard from strata managers that Sydney Water has been working on developing an electronic flow meter which is connected to the pipes on individual units and relays this information to a central point for collation but I don’t know how far away they are from making this commercially available.What I wanted to know if what’s available and the costs involved.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

KC,

We actually had a Strata where there was only one meter and had meters fitted to each unit. Our strata is in NSW and it was done about a decade ago. I am sorry but I can’t remember the details or cost.  

We were a small size strata and the reason for adding meters was that residents were unhappy with paying for a water when one particular resident appeared to be consuming all the water.  

Prior to the units being individually metered owners who rented their units could not charge for water consumption. So after the owners who rented out their units were able to charge those who rented their units for water consumption.