RUBS Billing Overview:

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1 RUBS Billing Overview: RUBS (Rationed Utility Billing System) billing can be efficiently implemented in ELDSoft 2006, this method of billing is used to bill residential or commercial rental properties that are served by a single meter or combined service. Overview: If a 4 unit apartment building is served by a single water meter and we want to bill each of the residents for their portion, based on a formula, we would enter a multiplier for each account that defines the usage percentage per tenant count and square feet in each unit. The total amount billed for the main meter is entered, and ELDSoft 2006 calculates each tenant s portion automatically, allowing the property owner to legitimately pass through the utility cost, and in some cases charge a premium for the service. *NOTE: Laws for sub-metering or RUBS billing and pass-through of utility costs vary greatly by Local, City, State and Federal government jurisdiction. The acceptable parameters can also be affected by applicable taxation. Before implementing a RUBS billing system we advise you to check with your financial and legal council to ensure that the correct methods are used for your area. The RUB method used is usually that which is most advantageous to the building owner and can include division by; number of square feet, number of bathrooms or bedrooms, number of occupants or by the number of units in the building By Default ELDSoft 2006 assumes that the common Sq.Ft./ # of occupants method is used and all fields are labeled as such. If a different division method is to be used, substitute the multipliers in the fields with the correct numbers for the method used. To set up and bill accounts using the RUBS Method, some basic information must be gathered for all of the units served by an individual meter. This varies on the method used, but in general two sets of information are needed to bill using RUBS, usually the number of tenants, and square feet per unit. If a tenant has moved in or out during the billing cycle, the number of days they occupied the unit will also be needed. RUBS Account setup: To define an account as a RUBS account, in the A charge field on the customer profile screen, enter an R, this will tell the software to bill this charge using the RUBS method, if the account has B, C, D or E charges these too can be billed using the RUBS method by entering an R or using regular billing. Once the R is entered on the customer profile screen, advance and come back to the account to refresh the screen, this will bring up the RUBS multiplier fields RUB Headcount and RUB Factor. In RUB Headcount, enter the total number of occupants in the unit, in RUB Factor, enter the percentage of square feet the - 1 -

2 unit occupies (out of the total Sq Ft served by the RUB billing (I/E: 250 sq ft in a 1000 sq ft building would be.25)). If the tenant is a new move in, or move out, and does not occupy the unit for the entire billing cycle, enter the number of days out of the month that were occupied in the Multiplier field on customer profile. Each set of units to be RUBS billed must have its own rate schedule. To create a RUBS billing rate schedule, go to Rate Tables, advance to the next rate (one that is not already in use) and enter the charges. To do so, enter the TOTAL billed amount and the TOTAL number of occupants for the building or units in the Rate for first (Enter Occupant # here) XXX = (Enter RUBS charge here) for the A and B charges and enter the flat rates as the total amount for the building (they will be divided by the # of occupants from the A charge). *NOTE: The A charge must be a RUBS defined R or the account will not be put into RUBS status, if you do not wish to bill the A charge on a group of accounts, a separate rate schedule should be set up for these accounts, still enter R in the a charge but do not put a charge amount in the rate schedule. The basic calculation is given in the example below: Parameters: Total Units in building: 4 Total Number of occupants: 10 Total Sq. Ft. in building: 1000 Total A Charge: $ The A charge is divided by: Charge allotment for # Occupants (50%): $50.00 Charge allotment for total Sq. Ft. (50%): $50.00 Unit 1 Billing Criteria Multiplier Charges Occupants: 3.30 $15.00 Sq. Ft.: $12.50 Total A charges: $27.50 Unit 2 Billing Criteria Multiplier Charges Occupants: 2.20 $10.00 Sq. Ft.: $12.50 Total A charges: $

3 Unit 3 Billing Criteria Multiplier Charges Occupants: 2.20 $10.00 Sq. Ft.: $5.00 Total A charges: $15.00 Unit 4 Billing Criteria Multiplier Charges Occupants: 3.30 $15.00 Sq. Ft.: $20.00 Total A charges: $35.00 Total distributed charges: $ Step-by-Step setup for RUBS Billing To setup a company database (the ELDSoft 2006 RUBS edition software has multi-database capabilities, see manual for more information) for RUBS billing, first go to File and then select New to create a new company database or Open to open an existing company database. Once the desired database has been opened it needs to be configured for RUBS billing. 1) Set up the Company Information screen, to configure this for RUBS billing the only difference is that the Multiplier Rules must be set for the charges that will be billed using the RUBS method, this will be used later to calculate the number of days billed for move-in or move-out customers. 2) Each Set of units (a Set is defined as all of the units under the Master bill, usually a building or complex) to be RUBS billed must have its own rate schedule. To create a RUBS billing rate schedule, go to Rate Tables, advance to the next rate (one that is not already in use) and enter the charges from the current utility bill. To do so, enter the TOTAL number of occupants and the TOTAL billed amount for the set of units in the Minimum Charge fields; Rate for first : (Enter Occupant count here) Water = : (Enter RUBS charge here) - 3 -

4 For the A and B charges and enter the flat rates as the total amount for the building (they will be divided by the # of occupants from the A charge). The rate schedule for each set of units will need to be updated each billing cycle with the total number of occupants and total charges. 3) On each RUBS customer account the charge fields will be individually labeled according to the charge names in Company Info, in each of these boxes you can enter one of the following: R= Charge using a RUBS calculation. * see Customized Billing for more info. * Note: an R must be in the A charge for the RUBS calculation to apply. Y= yes, charge for this service (customer must be on a non-rubs rate schedule). N= no, don t charge for this service. $= override the rate schedule and charge the amount entered (just enter the dollar amount, not the $ sign). 4) For a move-in or move-out account which has not been in the unit for the entire billing cycle, the number of days occupied must be entered in the MULT multiplier field, this will override the number of days in the cycle during calculation of bills. In order to enter the number of days in the MULT field the special handling code! (record marker) must be assigned first, this will also help in managing move-in/out accounts when the accounts are sorted by special handling code. 5) After the R has been entered in the A charge field, the save button should be clicked, doing so will change the Previous and Current meter reading fields respectively to RUB Headcount and RUB Factor. The RUB headcount is the number of persons occupying the unit, the RUB factor is the percentage of the total unit square footage occupied by the unit (in a 1000 SF building a 250 SF unit would be a RUB factor of.25) 6) To calculate bills for RUBS accounts everything is the same as for normal metered services, EXCEPT the Days In Cycle field. Enter the actual number of days in the billing cycle here, when using the RUBS factor for billing this will be the default number of days used to calculate RUBS charges

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