Condominiums

Condo & Townhomes

Ikehu Utility Solutions offers code-compliant submetering systems for Condominium and Townhome communities. From system design and installation to monthly meter reading and billing and ongoing service we handle everything so you don’t have to!

We provide submetering services that include installation, reading and billing of equipment, and servicing of non-proprietary water, gas, and electric meter systems, and Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) systems from industry leading manufacturers. We are dedicated to the seamless transition from resident introduction/notification to installation to resident billing and collections.

With more than 20 years of experience in multifamily, condominium, commercial, new construction, mobile home and military submetering systems, our knowledgeable equipment technicians ensure proper installation and maintenance and monitor your system performance – working with your site maintenance staff to correct common issues and minimize service costs.

Ikehu Utility Solutions is committed to being an industry leader in customer service. We offer extended hours of live support. This allows us to respond to and follow up with residents, community staff, management, and owners without delay. Service requests and questions are handled in a routine and detailed manner, allowing us to track, respond to, and resolve customer issues quickly and professionally.

Getting Started

Whether considering a change to a new submetering service provider or a new submetering system for your community, it is important to ask the right questions. Submetering can be a complicated and confusing industry. How do you know what questions to ask? At Ikehu Utility Solutions we insist that you ask us any questions you have and we guarantee we will provide you with straight-forward answers. Following are some questions you may consider asking:

Do the meters meet state and local requirements?
Who owns the meters and who is responsible to maintain them?
Will the metering system be provided without capital investment from the owners or HOA?
Who is responsible for meter recertification?
Is billing timely and done at regular intervals?
Is the billing system robust and scalable to meet your needs now and in five or ten years?
Are there multiple payment methods for the owners and residents including online payments, phone payments and AutoPay (ACH)?

Ikehu Utility Solutions Makes Submetering Simple

Ikehu Utility Solutions provides an easy, transparent, and seamless solution – managing the entire process from start to finish so you do not have to. We will help you organize and schedule your submeter retrofit project in coordination with your contractor.

We Do The Research For You

At Ikehu Utility Solutions, we believe that you must be fully informed about your options prior to making decisions regarding submetering. Ikehu Utility Solutions will provide each property owner and/or manager with a comparative recommendation to consider. We do the groundwork, provide the due diligence and rationale so you can make a more informed decision.

Why should you consider residential utility submetering?

Submetering systems provide multiple benefits, some of which are:

Stabilizes and helps to reduce the maintenance fee by removing residential utility usage, which can fluctuate wildly. Submetering makes it easier to budget reliably for utility usage from common areas, which tend to be more predictable and consistent.
Reduces the workload of property administration by allowing Ikehu to take over the utility reporting and billing and answering utility usage and cost-related questions from unit owners or residents directly.
Empowers residents to review and adjust their utility consumption and costs.

State-Of-The-Art, Web-Based Billing System

Ikehu Utility Solutions utilizes a state-of-the-art, web-based billing system. Residents will appreciate the benefits our system provides, including access to their account, in real-time, 24/7 via the web. Convenient online payment options via eCheck and credit card are also available to the resident through their online account.

24/7 property managers Access

Ikehu Utility Solutions’ property management access allows property managers to view the utility consumption of each building and/or unit, run reports and perform various functions via the web 24/7, daily. Here are a few typical key report types available for property managers:

Monthly Consumption profiling: Allows you to view water, electricity and/or gas consumption monthly for the entire building or by each individual unit.
Monthly Billing: See what Ikehu Utility Solutions has billed each tenant for. You can download a comprehensive report for the entire property or pull up individual copies of actual invoices from any current or past tenant.
Aging Accounts Receivable: A comprehensive Accounts Receivable aging report.

With over 95 different report types, we can customize utility usage and billing information to meet your property’s specific needs.

What are the steps to retrofit your property with utility submeters?

To begin, contact Ikehu for a free site survey. We will meet with your Site or Property manager to identify the type of electric, water, or gas infrastructure available on property to integrate a utility submeter system that will meet your property’s needs.
After we complete the site survey, we can help identify your property’s overall utility usage and costs by providing us with the most recent electric, water, or gas invoice.
We will provide a quote and detailed proposal to the AOAO for review. We can always attend a board meeting to go over the project details, answer questions, and arrange a timeline for the project and our services.
Upon a completed and signed agreement, we will take steps to coordinate the project details with the contractor approved and contracted separately by the board. Some of these steps include:
- Quality Assurance checks as the meters are installed to ensure that the meters are functioning properly and in order with their specifications from the manufacturer.
- Introduction of service letters are sent to residents and unit owners explaining the type and scope of service they will receive.
- A coordinated implementation process to ensure services begin seamlessly and smoothly.
Residential utility usage reports or utility invoices are sent out each month in coordination with the master utility bill or as agreed upon with the AOAO.
The property manager or other authorized person(s) will continue to make payment of utility services to the utility provider as usual. A reimbursement check will be sent out each month to the AOAO as scheduled by the AOAO.

Great Incentives

Accurately monitoring each apartment home’s electrical usage gives greater incentive for residents to conserve energy, since they are paying for exactly what they use. During a one-year period, an average of 17 percent less energy was consumed in the submetered residences.

Responsive and Professional

We have found Ikehu Utility Solutions to be an extremely professional company. Their representatives are always responsive and attentive to our questions, as well as being very knowledgeable of all state regulations regarding utility billing. They gave us suggestions for increasing our revenue and we have seen a marked increase in collections and revenue since we started using their services. We are very pleased with all aspects of their service and look forward to a long, continued relationship with Ikehu Utility Solutions.

Conscious Energy Use

An obvious trend has emerged now that residents are responsible for their own utility bills. Before the days of submetering, it was not uncommon to see windows open or hear air conditioners running in the middle of winter with heaters going full blast. It was a way to cool down the apartment, but now that residents are responsible for their own bills, they tend to just turn down the heat.

Adding to the Bottom Line

We have calculated the increase in property value that comes along with submetering. For instance, on a property with 285 apartment homes with an average water bill of $7,000 per month, we can add up to $6,000 or more per month to the bottom line. At a 9 percent capitalization rate, that equates to a property value increase of $800,000.

Seamless Transition

Ikehu Utility Solutions has done an excellent job with our properties. They are very professional and have seamlessly transitioned many of our apartment buildings to the Ratio Utility Billing program, as well as setting up online automated meter reading and billing with our newer properties. I would recommend them to small and large property owners alike.

Increased Property Value

Many other property owners have told me that they do not have the money to make the initial investment to install meters. But I recommend that they find a way to fund it because the payback is rapid — usually about one year to 18 months, and the revenue recovery is ongoing. For example, when we purchased a 169 apartment home community in Indianapolis, I asked our bank to add the cost of meter installation onto our loan, which they readily did after I demonstrated how the program significantly increases property value. It cost about $225 per apartment home to install the gas submeters at the property, for a total of $38,025, and our mortgage increased by only $500 per month. The gas bill for that property alone is $85,000 per year and we recover about 70 percent of those costs, after factoring out common area and vacant apartment home costs, a savings of $59,500 per year, which far surpasses the initial installation cost. Another benefit is that our property value has increased exponentially, which I calculated by taking the $59,500 at a 9.5 percent cap rate (rates can vary) which raised the property value by more than $500,000.

Recouped Cost

The results did not disappoint me. In December the bills declined after we began billing residents for their water consumption. In March 2003 and April 2003 bills were approximately $270 per day; May fell to $254. The difference between $462 in April 2001 and $270 in April 2003 is $192 per day – a payback of less than one year. The payback actually is much faster because we are collecting about $2000 each month from the billing program, an amount that should double by year-end as new leases are signed.

Condominiums

Getting Started

Ikehu Utility Solutions Makes Submetering Simple

We Do The Research For You

Why should you consider residential utility submetering?

State-Of-The-Art, Web-Based Billing System

24/7 property managers Access

What are the steps to retrofit your property with utility submeters?

Ikehu Utility Solutions Customer Testimonials

Great Incentives

Responsive and Professional

Conscious Energy Use

Adding to the Bottom Line

Seamless Transition

Increased Property Value

Recouped Cost

Hawaii Utility Billing Services

Thinking green to keep our planet blue

Hawaii Headquarters

Account Management

Sales Team

Customer Service