Not sure if this is allowed on the forums, and I have no affiliation to any of these companies. I am also in PAC NW and looked at all three of these providers. They are listed in no particular order.
Has anyone out there sourced and installed meters themselves versus going through a turnkey company? It’s not a complicated process. Just curious if there is a smart meter out there than can be installed home by home and managed solely by the park.
Both Metron Sustainable Services and ABT offer “parts only” options, where you still perform the install yourself. They monitoring/reads is still something they handle and have a monthly fee for. I’m not aware of any smart meters where there is no ongoing reading or service fee. We have performed installation ourselves and it is very simple. The hardest part getting under the homes to install them.
My name is Bill and I’m with Metron Sustainable Services. I’m more than happy to help you with sub-metering your park with our smart meters. My direct line is 720-826-1174
@captainehh
Make sure you read the ORS codes carefully. Oregon has some interesting laws with regard to sub-metering. I have a park in Coos Bay and decided not to sub-meter.
Interesting. I have done my homework. MHCO is a fantastic resource as you likely know. Do you mind elaborating a bit as to why you elected not to sub meter? Was it more to do with taking two steps back so you could take one step forward? I.e. reducing rent per OR Law so you could sub meter?
Even if you installed meters and didnt bill back you’ll be farther ahead than without them. Locating leaks is only way to lower usage and bill. My bill dropped about $12k per yr.
@captainehh It just got too complicated for me to want to dig into. I figured I’d just raise the rent a little extra. We also do an annual water leak survey. I pay my guys to go house to house and fix leaky faucets and toilets etc.
I figured by the time I paid for everything and had it installed, I would be better off just raising the rent by $10 extra dollars.
We typically install the meters ourselves. We get all the meters and Styrofoam boxes from the meter supplier, order the fittings from supplyhouse.com, by the insulation from a local insulation supplier (The retail stores have too thin of a wall thickness), and have my maintenance person do the work on a per unit basis.
The original catalyst to do it ourselves was because the backlog from the metering vendor was several months and we wanted faster results. Also by doing it ourselves we were able to inspect any other issues and correct them during the installation.
Main issue I discovered was that after installers cut in the meter the current heat tape was not long enough but the installers let them slip by anyway. Following winter had several freeze-ups. Factor that in when you install and you’ll love the results. Toilets suddenly get repaired after decades.