Who Pays for What Utilities?
When you live in a house, life is simple. Electricity, water, gas and Internet bills arrive and they are yours to pay.
When you live in a Body Corporate things are somewhat different.
Electricity, gas and Internet bills are still arrive in the Resident’s name and are the Resident’s to pay.
Electrical Services
Within the Common Property switchboards there are individual electrical meters for each apartment.
Depending on the type of meter installed it may either require manual reading by your energy supplier or is remotely read.
The switchboard electrical meters for the Nolan/Preston/Whiteley Block Apartments are located within the Main Switchboard in the Nolan Block Car Park.
For Drysdale and Boyd Block Apartments, the meters and Switchboard is located in the Drysdale Car Park.
For Lindsay Block Apartments, the meters and Switchboard is located within the Lindsay Car Park.
Energex and Meter reading companies have access to these meters in order to carry out manual meter reading and any required meter upgrades or electrical works.
Electrical Power Failure
Apartment Owners are responsible for the maintenance of electrical fixtures and appliances within the apartment, including internal switchboards. These switchboards are typically located within linen/storage cupboards in the apartment.
In the event of a power failure that is triggered outside of your internal apartment switchboard, a Qualified Electrician is required to investigate the fault at the main switchboard supply for your apartment.
If this occurs please call the office landline on – 07 3358 1938
If the fault is internal to the Unit, the owner of the property is responsible for any associated electrician call-out or repairs. If the fault is with the building’s electrical supply then the Body Corporate is responsible.
In the event a power failure occurs after-hours, the landline phone system will divert to a voice menu where you can select the appropriate after-hours contact.
Water is different
Hot Water
Hot water consumed in an Apartment is measured by a hot water meter located (usually) under the kitchen sink.
These Meters are read remotely by Origin Energy. Residents receives a Hot Water Bill from Origin Energy for the Hot Water consumed although, in reality, that charge relates to the gas used to heat the water.
The Gas charges for cooktops are bundled with the Hot Water charge with Origin Energy as a flat ‘day rate’ charge. There are no individual gas meters for Apartments, all cooktops are fed by the same Gas Supply.
Refer to the PDF link below for more info about the embedded hot water services provided by Origin Energy.
Cold Water
Cold Water is treated differently.
Urban Utilities only meters the total amount of water being supplied to the whole complex by a meter at the property line.
Urban Utilities thens divide the total water usage by the Body Corporate Contribution Lot Entitlements for each lot to arrive at a charge rate.
Urban Utilities then calculates the Water Bill for each Lot by multiplying the Contribution Entitlement for each Lot and the charge rate.
Due to the unmetered nature of the cold water supply, the owner of the Apartment is responsible for this utility and the charge cannot be passed onto a tenant where a tenacy is in place.
Result is each Apartment Cold Water Bill does not relate to the amount consumed by that lot. So while an apartment Resident may make every effort to save water, that will not be reflected in the Bill they receive, particularly if other Residents make no effort to minimise water usage.
Water meters for each Apartment and Common Property would solve that problem but installation of individual water meters is a complex exercise due to the varying apartment designs and how each block has been constructed.