Are there any environmental acts that allow an HOA to skirt around old by-law provisions?

You need to talk to the water company FIRST and FOREMOST if this is even possible. We went to separate meters but we had separate homes. It cost us 20K to just to get the water company to install. We had to change our rules at a cost of almost 3K to reflect the change. That took 3 years alone. We also had to change our roads to be PUBLIC so the water company could come in and do the work. They had to dig up the entire neighborhood for awhile. The entire process took over 4 years to complete.

We had to have a special assessment to even get the 20K deposit with the water company. However, we were able to lower our HOA dues after the water meters went separate. We were able to shut people's water off for NOT paying their dues in our rules. All of which had to be changed and approved.

Your HOA is run by a MAJORITY of what the homeowners want. If they do not want separate meters, then you do not get them. That's because they are the ones who will be funding, approving, and agreeing to the change. Not an easy task to overcome if it's just your opinion....

The heck with the by-laws, the covenants are where you need to look, they usually lay out the method for setting assessments and what is to be included.

BTW our Covenants allow the Board to set up separate metering as long as we deduct the nominal amount that we have budgeted for water use from everyone's assessment but the projected cost savings vs putting the meters in and figuring everyone's bills, sending the bills, not to mention we still couldn't shut off non-payers since we are not a utility, plus the added bookkeeping and collecting costs would have actually ended up costing EVERYONE more in the long run.

My experience with water billing is that there is a minimum fixed cost billed to each account that has a meter. Call it a "meter rental" if you will. It seems universal. I have encountered it everywhere I have lived, which has been in many places (over ten) and states. This charge is often pretty large when compared to the cost of water itself. About 1/3 of my present water bill is a fixed charge that never changes, no matter how much water I use. (Those of you with your own water meters might want to check yours to see what it is).

My point is that not only will there be the an extra cost associated with installing meters everywhere, which everyone will pay, including you, but everyone's water bill will go up as well, including yours.

Doesn't sound like such a hot idea to me. As they say, be careful what you wish for.

to repeat:



The issue should have been DOA.

Who, exactly, does the "I" think they are?

DOH

Ron

Tough love here but you are advocating individual water meters and do not have a vague idea what it might cost. I suggest you start at square one.

You'd have to actually run the numbers in your case to determine that. Start by contacting the water company to learn what their fixed monthly rates and actual water usage rates are. You can then do some estimating.

Earlier I had said that about 1/3 of my water bill was a fixed monthly charge. Well, it used to be when my wife was alive. I just checked and the fixed portion of my bill is about 2/3. I pay a monthly fixed service charge of about $22 per month regardless of how much or how little water I use. The water portion of my bill ranges from $11 to $13 per month which makes my average monthly water bill about $33 to $35 per month. When my wife was alive and my older daughter stayed with us to take care of her, my monthly water bill was about $47 per month for three people. Of course, rates vary considerably and will depend on where you live and how water is delivered. Still, fixed and variable costs are almost universal with all utility billing, including water, electricity, gas and telephone. Check your bills and see.

There is something in economics called "economy of scale." It means that fixed costs go down per user as the number of users increases. In other words, in your case, the fixed portion of the cost of your monthly water bill is being shared by four users instead of being paid for by just one.

We do the same thing in our community with trash collection. Instead of having each homeowner pay for trash collection individually, as is done with other private homes in the town, the association contracts with the trash collection company to pick up trash for the entire community. That total cost is then divided equally among the homeowners as part of the monthly assessment. Because of the "bulk buy," each homeowner actually pays less for trash removal than they would if they each contracted separately for it.

Well, I do believe that Zach believes it's a problem.

However, as was pointed out by Zach and echoed by John, since a majority of the membership doesn't want individual meters, it's simply not going to happen without support.

Therefore, my suggestion to Zach is:

Quit looking for loopholes like environmental acts, etc.
Instead, as others here have suggested, start gathering the figures. Find out what it will cost and what the actual impact would be to the average owner. Then use those facts to gather support to make the change happen. If, after explaining the facts and figures to others, there is still not enough support to make the change, I would suggest that you place your time and energy into other more enjoyable things or start to find property that already has individualized meters.

TimB, you are sooooo polite. And my role model.

Oops,

I said Zach. The original poster was Ron.

My apologies to both.

Your estimate for a family of four is excessively high when you consider the fixed costs. I've already provided you an actual example where the water costs for three people were less than $50 per month. Are you trying to say that one more person doubles that amount?

Stop guessing. Go out and get the real numbers and then do the real math. You may be in for a surprise.

As a real life example, we are considering replacing our existing hot water system in our clubhouse with a tankless, on demand, hot water heater because of the alleged savings in energy costs. In fact, I sponsored the idea. After I have done considerable research, I learned that such a solution, because of the annual maintenance required, was not at all cost-effective and , that in fact, we would never recover our initial investment.

Don't proceed based on impulse. Research! Research! Then do more research! Get the facts and the actual numbers; do the math; then decide!

The very first step should be to contact the water company and find out if they will even allow individual meters. In my area the water company is the city and their policy is one address, one meter.

If the water provider will not mess around with individual meters you can still install individual meters but someone is going to have to read them on a regular basis and prepare some sort of bill for each unit.

Ron, why are you harping about families of four? How about the single who takes multiple showers or extra long showers and runs the dishwasher with minimal loads, you might actually be surprised who in the building wastes water. But if your Covenants require water to be included in the assessment, that would be the first hurdle you need to jump, amending them which it sounds like you'll come up short.

re: auto-dishwasher water use

study after study have shown that the machine saves water if 'fully' or even 'well' loaded