Breaking Down a Utility Bill – SimpleSUB Water

In this article, we’ll walk through an example water bill and highlight what to look for when entering your bill in the Web App. Below is the bill we’ll be reviewing.

Note: The utility bills shown in this article are examples for demonstration purposes only. Any account numbers, payment amounts, payment dates, customer names, or billing details shown are sample data and do not represent actual customer account information.

Information You Will Need

When entering a utility bill, you’ll need the following information from the bill:

Billing Period (Read Dates)

This is the date range the bill covers. It may be labeled as:

Billing Period
Read Dates
Service Dates

This tells the system which time period the usage should apply to.

Total Water Usage

Locate the total water usage for the property during the billing period.

This number represents the total amount of water consumed across the entire property.

Units of Measurement

Utility companies may measure water usage in different units. Common units include:

Gallons
Thousands of Gallons (kGal or kG)
Cubic Feet (CF)

The SimpleSUB Web App uses

Thousands of Gallons
CCF (HCF)
Gallons
Hundreds of Gallons
Liters
Thousands of Liters
CF

If you’re not sure of the units, contact your utility company to confirm.

Total Usage-Based Cost

Next, identify the portion of the bill that is based on water usage.

These are the charges that will be split among tenants based on their metered usage.

Identifying Usage vs. Fixed Charges

Water bills typically include two types of charges:

Usage-Based Charges

These charges depend on how much water is used.

Common examples include:

Water
Sewer

These charges are calculated based on the volume of water used and should be included in the Water Cost field in the Web App.

Non-Usage Charges (Fixed Charges)

These charges remain the same regardless of water usage and should not be included in the water cost field.

Examples include:

Base service fees
Stormwater fees
Trash fees
Infrastructure or service charges

These charges can be added later as fixed fees when creating the bill.

Important: Only Enter Usage-Based Charges

When entering the Water Cost in the Web App, include only the total of usage-based charges (typically water and sewer).

Do not include fixed charges such as base service fees, stormwater, or trash. These should be entered separately if you choose to pass them on to tenants.