#24507
Cosmo
Flatchatter
Chat-starter

    Whale, I have done some more research into this to find out more about the two issues. The following is what I have discovered (and I hope is correct):

    For Water, your first paragraph is totally correct and shows why for water costs the proposal wouldn’t be feasible.  The water utility reads each individual unit’s meter and the master meter. 

    The strata has a water (master) meter at the front boundary which reads what goes into the property. Each unit has a water meter directly outside their unit to read what is used my each unit.  If there are no leaks between the front strata meter and the individuals units the total of the units readings will equal the front meter. If the total of the front meter is greater than the sum of the individuals units the strata will get charged for usage.  

    The water authorities won’t allow one unit to become a master meter as that has to be on the boundary.

    For electricity, the strata could connect the common property power light into one unit.  There would be initial costs of an electrician and they would probably be recovered after 3 years. Overall, there would be some fixed costs savings. However the messy problem remains of defining the amount of the reimbursement to the unit taking on the common property electricity and how that ‘taking on’ would pass to future owners of that unit.