Philadelphia · Pittsburgh · Lehigh Valley · Lancaster · Harrisburg
Bill each apartment for the water it uses instead of carrying one master bill. AQUEES recommends the meters, your licensed plumber installs them, and we read every unit monthly, prepare the unit bills and flag leaks.
On a master meter, the owner pays for every running toilet and long shower in the building. A meter on each unit puts each resident's use on that resident's bill.
A typical apartment's water and sewer costs about $147 a month on Pittsburgh Water and ALCOSAN and about $146 in Pennsylvania American Water areas. See the table below.
Monthly reads of every unit show a stuck flapper or a hidden leak within weeks, not when the quarterly bill arrives.
Pennsylvania's condominium and planned-community acts assess separately metered utility costs in proportion to each unit's usage.
| Area | Utilities | Per unit per month | Per year, 20-unit building |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh Water + ALCOSAN | about $147 | about $35,200 |
| Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittsburgh suburbs | Pennsylvania American Water (water and sewer) | about $146 | about $35,000 |
| Philadelphia suburbs (where Aqua also provides sewer) | Aqua Pennsylvania | about $120 | about $28,900 |
| York | York Water + Pennsylvania American Water sewer | about $110 | about $26,400 |
| Harrisburg | Capital Region Water | about $88 | about $21,100 |
| Reading | Reading Area Water Authority + city sewer | about $78 | about $18,700 |
| Philadelphia | Philadelphia Water Department | about $71 | about $17,100 |
| Lancaster | City of Lancaster | about $68 | about $16,300 |
| Allentown | Lehigh County Authority | about $41 | about $10,000 |
| Bethlehem | City of Bethlehem | about $39 | about $9,400 |
Estimate for one apartment using 3,460 gallons a month in a 20-unit building on a 2-inch master meter, including that building's fixed and stormwater charges shared across 20 units. Published rates in effect October 2026; your building's bill will differ. Sources below.
| Topic | What the rule says | How AQUEES applies it |
|---|---|---|
| Billing tenants for water | No Pennsylvania statute or PUC rule bans it. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that a landlord serving only its own tenants is not a public utility (Drexelbrook Associates v. PUC, 1965). | The lease provides for the water charge, and the owner stays the utility's customer. |
| Price limit | Where a PUC-regulated utility supplies the water, 66 Pa.C.S. § 1313 caps a reseller's bill to a residential consumer at what that utility would bill its own residential customers for the same amount of service. | Unit bills pass through the building's actual cost, with no markup. |
| Philadelphia | Philadelphia Water Department Regulation § 401.5(a) lets an owner install, at its own expense, a private sub-meter on the premises side of the City meter. The regulation does not address billing tenants. | The building keeps its PWD meter and account; submeters sit behind it, and billing rests on the lease. |
| Condominiums and planned communities | 68 Pa.C.S. §§ 3314(c)(3) and 5314(c)(3): utility costs separately metered to each unit are assessed in proportion to usage, unless the declaration provides otherwise. | Associations can bill each unit owner from its own meter. |
| Tenant protections | 66 Pa.C.S. §§ 1521–1533 protect tenants if the owner's master account faces shutoff, and those rights cannot be waived. | Owners keep the master bill paid; residents are never shut off by the billing. |
| Installation | Altering a building's water supply needs a plumbing permit under the Uniform Construction Code (34 Pa. Code § 403.62). | Your licensed plumber pulls the permit and installs the meters we specify. |
| Tax-credit (LIHTC) buildings | 26 CFR 1.42-10(e) recognizes actual-consumption submetering, with the tenant's rate capped at the owner's rate. | Bills are set up to work with your utility allowance. |
General information, not legal advice. Checked October 13, 2026. Pennsylvania American Water, Aqua and Pittsburgh Water tariffs vary; we review your utility's tariff with you before billing starts.
Send recent water bills, plans and the unit count. No site visit needed. We show what each unit would be billed and what the building would recover.
Your licensed plumber reviews the plan and installs the meters we recommend, under the permit. AQUEES does not send its own crew.
We read every unit each month and prepare the unit water bills at the building's actual cost.
Leak and high-use alerts, monthly reports, and records residents can review.
AQUEES is new to Pennsylvania. Because your own plumber installs, we can support a building anywhere in the state from the first month, backed by 100+ properties and 1,000+ units across the Mid-Atlantic region since 2010.
Yes. No Pennsylvania statute or PUC rule bans it, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held that a landlord serving only its own tenants is not a public utility. Bill at actual cost, provide for the charge in the lease, and keep the master utility account in the owner's name.
Philadelphia Water Department Regulation § 401.5(a) lets owners install private sub-meters on the building side of the City meter; it does not address billing tenants. Billing then rests on the lease and on the Pennsylvania rule that a landlord serving only its own tenants is not a public utility. The owner stays the PWD customer and pays the master bill.
Bill residents at actual cost. Where a PUC-regulated utility (for example Pittsburgh Water, Pennsylvania American Water or Aqua) supplies the water, 66 Pa.C.S. § 1313 caps a resident's whole bill at what that utility would charge its own residential customers for the same amount of water. Tax-credit buildings follow the federal utility-allowance rules.
Your licensed plumber installs the meters we specify, under a plumbing permit. AQUEES supplies the plan, reads every unit monthly and prepares the bills, so we serve buildings anywhere in Pennsylvania.
We give a fixed quote after reviewing your water bills, plans and unit count, and we show the expected recovery for your building from its own bills.
Send us a recent water bill and your unit count. We reply within one business day.
Or call 202-681-3558
We serve DC, MD, VA, PA and DE. See also: Washington, DC · Baltimore, MD · Norfolk & Virginia Beach, VA · Delaware
