Submetering & billing
Livable
Livable administers utility billing for rental property owners and managers. It allocates shared utility costs to residents through a ratio utility billing system, sub-metered usage or other methods, produces resident statements, collects payment and answers residents' billing questions.
There are two service levels. Self Service keeps billing with the property team, with allocation table generation, preview and charge approval, custom tenant fees and utility opt-outs, utility and statement caps, and final statement estimation with daily proration. Bill Automation hands the whole workflow to Livable, from bill acquisition and data entry through resident statements, multilingual tenant support, spike alerts and billing adjustments, with the property team able to review, adjust or override. Allocation can be by occupancy, square footage, fixed percentage, per unit, sub-metered usage, actual consumption or a custom weighting that accounts for in-unit amenities such as washers and dishwashers. Additional modules cover AP automation, benchmarking and utility analytics, ENERGY STAR reporting, water sub-meter billing, public grid enrollment, community solar and bulk community internet.
Residents get their own portal showing the statement, the allocation breakdown and the underlying property bill, and can pay by ACH, debit or credit card; where a property runs supported management software the charges are synced instead, so residents pay with rent. Livable is a certified AppFolio Stack Partner with a native AppFolio integration. The company says it has operated compliantly since 2009, that its legal team monitors ordinance requirements market by market, and that it keeps allocation tables, bill copies and statement disclosures to support a disputed charge. Resident support runs by phone and email on weekdays, with a 24/7 AI agent, on 877-789-6027.
Fees are not published; pricing follows a free consultation, and setup is described as taking a few weeks. Whether a ratio billing programme is permitted varies by state, county, city and sometimes by utility provider, so the local rules matter more than the software. The site also warns that Livable is not Livble, a different rent-splitting company.
Best for
Owners and managers of buildings without individual unit meters who want shared water, sewer, trash or energy costs allocated and billed to residents, either kept in-house or fully outsourced. AppFolio users get a native integration.
What they do
- Ratio utility billing (RUBS)
- Water sub-meter billing
- Utility bill acquisition and data entry
- Resident statements and payment portal
- Charge sync into property management software
- AP automation for utility invoices
- ENERGY STAR reporting and benchmarking
- Turnover utility monitoring
- Community solar and bulk internet billing
- Resident billing support and dispute documentation
Details
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2009 |
What stands out
- Says it has administered ratio utility billing compliantly since 2009 and tracks ordinance requirements market by market.
- A certified AppFolio Stack Partner with a native integration that syncs utility charges into AppFolio.
- Allocates by occupancy, square footage, fixed percentage, per unit, sub-metered usage or custom weighting.
- Resident statements include the full allocation table and a copy of the underlying utility bill.
- Publishes figures of 30% average reduced consumption and 85% of utility costs recoverable through RUBS.
Common questions
- What is RUBS and how does it work?
- RUBS is a ratio utility billing system: a way of dividing shared utility costs among residents in buildings without individual unit meters. Livable's software weighs factors such as resident count, unit size and in-unit amenities to calculate each resident's share, and shows that calculation on the statement.
- Is ratio utility billing legal?
- Livable says it is legal in most US markets, though rules vary by state, county, city and sometimes by utility provider, and that the company has operated compliantly since 2009. It cites Colorado HB26-1013, signed on March 26, 2026, as clarifying RUBS as an authorised billing method in that state when requirements are met.
- How do residents pay their utility bills?
- Where the property uses supported management software, charges are synced into the system residents already use and paid with rent. Otherwise residents pay through the Livable resident portal by ACH, debit card or credit card, with auto-pay and multilingual support available.
- How long does it take to get started?
- Livable says most properties are running within a few weeks. The process starts with a free consultation covering property setup and utility mix, followed by configuration, integration with the management software where applicable, and preparation of the allocation tables.