Plain-English guides to utility rebilling.
Written for RTM directors, RMC boards, managing agents and leaseholders who want to understand how communal utility billing actually works.
What Is Utility Rebilling?
Utility rebilling is the process of taking a single communal utility supply — electricity, gas, heat or water — that enters a residential block on one supplier account, and dividing the cost between individual flats based on what each leaseholder has actually consumed. It is the standard model in modern apartment buildings, new-build developments and many converted blocks where there is one landlord supply behind the meter rather than separate supplier accounts for each flat.
Read guideUtility Rebilling for RTM Companies
Right To Manage (RTM) companies take on the operational responsibility of managing a block without the back-office of a large managing agent. Utility rebilling is one of the most scrutinised line items at any AGM, which is why RTM directors need a partner that is transparent, accurate and accountable from day one.
Read guideUtility Rebilling for Managing Agents
Managing agents need a rebilling partner that takes work off the desk, not adds to it. We work alongside agents across the UK, handling communal utility billing, reconciliation and arrears recovery for residential blocks in their portfolio — without competing for the wider management instruction.
Read guideElectricity Rebilling for Residential Blocks
Most modern residential blocks are fed by a single communal electricity supply, with sub-meters or smart meters in each flat. Electricity rebilling translates that supply into individual leaseholder invoices, calculated on actual consumption, with landlord-supply usage apportioned fairly across the building.
Read guideWater Rebilling for Residential Blocks
Where a block of flats is on a single water supply, the freeholder or RTM holds the wholesaler account. Water rebilling apportions the supplier invoice across flats, either by sub-meter where individual cold-water meters are installed, or by a fair fixed methodology where they are not.
Read guideGas Rebilling for Residential Blocks
Residential blocks with a communal gas supply typically use it to fuel a central boiler plant that serves a communal heating or hot water system. Gas rebilling either covers the plant fuel cost — which is then recovered through heat network charges — or, where individual gas sub-meters exist, direct per-flat billing on gas consumption.
Read guideHeat Network Billing for Residential Blocks
Heat network billing is the process of billing residents in a block of flats for the heat and hot water they consume from a communal heating system. It is governed by the Heat Network (Metering and Billing) Regulations and, increasingly, by the wider heat network market framework. Done well, it is fair, accurate and transparent. Done badly, it is the single biggest source of leaseholder complaints in modern blocks.
Read guideCommunal Heating Billing for Blocks of Flats
Communal heating is the most common form of heating in modern UK apartment blocks. A single plant — gas boilers, heat pumps, CHP or a district connection — generates heat that is piped to every flat through a heat network. Billing residents fairly for their share of heat and hot water requires accurate meter data, transparent unit rates and a documented methodology for handling losses and standing charges.
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