Electricity: Each dwelling unit at King & Queen Apartments has an individual sub-meter to calculate the electric usage of that apartment. Each sub-meter is read at the beginning of each month and each dwelling unit is charged for that dwelling unit’s electricity usage for the month. The bill is calculated by multiplying the price per kWh by the total number of kWh used.
Heat: The apartment community has a main, hot water heating system. The heating system is typically turned on in mid-October. The hot water for the heat of the heating system circulates through heating pipes that run through the walls between dwelling units and to the coils of the individual heating air handlers. Each dwelling unit has an individual thermostat that controls the temperature in the dwelling unit. The heat bills are calculated by using the “RUBs” (Ratio Utility Billing) by Unit Percentage calculation method which is based on the square footage of the dwelling unit.
When the heat is turned on, the heating pipes may keep an apartment at a steady, warm temperature, and the heating unit may not need to be turned on. Thus the reason the RUBs heat billing is used. Many dwelling units stay warm with just the hot water of the main heating system circulating through the walls without actually turning the heat on in the dwelling unit.
Hot Water: Each dwelling unit has “instant” hot water which means if hot water is turned on from any faucet, the faucet will produce hot water within a few seconds. Fuel for hot water usage is calculated by using RUBs by Unit Occupancy and taking the amount of fuel used to heat domestic hot water (hot water that is used in the kitchen and bathroom) and dividing it by the number of occupants in the apartment community. The bills are based upon the number of occupants in a dwelling unit.