Case 1, Energy cost paid by the tenant

Rubén M. R.

Codirector

CIVITA

LEEDuser Basic Member

69 thumbs up

October 4, 2011

In this case the tenant has a contract with the utility company and pays for his electricity. But the base building provides chilled water and this cost is included in the base rent. Can we comply only with the contract with the utility company? Or do we also need to make two payments to the owner, one for rent and one for the energy provided? If this is the case, how should the owner determine the amount to be charged? The owner doesn´t have submetering, he only knows the basebuilding total consumption. Thanks

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Gordon Shymko

Principal

G. F. Shymko & Associates Inc.

LEEDuser Basic Member

97 thumbs up

Mon, 11/21/2011 - 20:43

The chilled water must be submetered and billed to the tenant as specified in the RG. It does not have to be a separate payment, but it must be separately identified from the rent. There are a number of potential approaches to identifying the "cost" of the chilled water, but the simplest would be to analytically disaggregate the base building chiller energy use and bill it pro-rata based on the tenant chilled water consumption.

Carolina Acevedo

Designer, Sustainability Department

LEEDuser Basic Member

2 thumbs up

Thu, 12/13/2012 - 16:25

Hi Gordon, I'm in a similar situation as Ruben, and I would like to ask you to clarify this way that you described to identify the cost of the chilled water: How do you disaggregate the base building chiller energy use? The building in which my project is located has a cooling tower and is only partially occupied to date (4 of 10 floors are currently occupied). Thanks in advance!

Gordon Shymko

Principal

G. F. Shymko & Associates Inc.

LEEDuser Basic Member

97 thumbs up

Mon, 12/17/2012 - 19:48

Hi Carolina, As I indicated above, there are several potential approaches to this, and the details would depend on a number of factors, including the willingness of the base building owner/operator to cooperate and the amount of assistance subsequently offered. At a high level, the unit cost of producing the base building chilled water must be determined (e.g. cost per ton-hr), and a chilled water cost levied at the tenant level based on the submetered tenant chilled water use.