Energy Academy
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Sub-Metering & Tenant Billing

Landlord and tenant supplies, the sub-meter hierarchy a multi-let building needs, and apportioning energy fairly through the service charge.

9 min read · Jacob Willis, Net Zero Lead · Last reviewed July 2026


Every rating, recharge and retrofit case in commercial property ultimately rests on metering, and multi-let buildings need more of it than any other building type because the energy must not only be measured but attributed: this floor, that tenant, this chiller, that riser. A building with one fiscal meter and twelve tenants cannot bill fairly, cannot rate its base building, and cannot tell whether a saving came from the landlord's plant or a tenant moving out. This lesson maps the metering hierarchy a multi-let building needs, and how the numbers turn into tenant bills through the service charge.

In this lesson

  • 01The metering hierarchy
  • 02Apportionment: floor area versus meters
  • 03Rules that touch tenant billing
  • 04Getting the data flowing
  • 05Sources and further reading