Water billing run
The month's reads in, an itemized bill for every lot out. Paste from your spreadsheet or upload your reader's export, set your rates once, and send the bills your way in a couple of minutes instead of an hour.
From reads to sent bills in three steps
- Get the reads in. Paste, upload, or type them. The tool finds the columns, pairs prior and current reads, and lays everything out in an editable table. Nothing is billed until you've seen it.
- Set the rates once. Your utility's per-gallon (or per-1,000-gallon, or per-CCF) rate straight off your own bill, an optional base fee, sewer, and any flat pass-through. Enter your utility bill's total and the tool shows what share of it you're recovering.
- Send them your way. Print the batch (one clean invoice per page), download a PDF, export a CSV that drops into any mail merge, or copy a ready-written text per tenant. Then save the run file so next month takes two minutes.
It checks the reads before you send
A wrong bill costs more trust than a late one, so every run is checked first: a read that's lower than last month's (a rolled-over or swapped meter, never billed as a negative), zero usage on an occupied lot (vacant, or a stuck meter?), a lot using several times the park median (a leak or a misread), and missing reads. Flagged lots are set aside for you to fix or mark as estimated. An estimated read is printed as estimated on the bill, so the tenant is never misled.
Billing one lot, not the whole park? The single-bill water submeter calculator is quicker. No submeters at all? Split the master bill fairly with the RUBS calculator. For the rules, read submetered water billing rules by state and how to bill tenants for water the legal way.
Common questions
What format do my meter reads need to be in?
Almost anything tabular: paste columns straight from Excel or Google Sheets, or upload a CSV, including the export from a submeter reading system (Sonata, Metron, Badger, and similar cellular or drive-by readers all export a table). The tool detects the columns for lot, tenant, meter, and the two reads. If it guesses wrong, you can remap the columns, and every row is editable before anything is billed.
Do my tenant names and meter reads get uploaded or stored?
They are processed in memory to build your page and never stored. No account, no signup, nothing saved on our side. When you want to keep the run, download the run file: it saves to your own computer and reloads next cycle with your roster, rates, and reads carried forward.
How do I bill next month without retyping everything?
Save the run file when you finish. Next cycle, upload it on this page: your lots, tenants, and rates come back, this month’s reads become the priors, and you only enter the new reads. No account needed. The file lives on your machine.
What rate structures does it support?
A per-unit water rate (per gallon, per 1,000 gallons, or per CCF), an optional base/service fee, an allowance ("the base fee includes the first N gallons") with overage, sewer as a percentage of water, per-unit, or flat, and one flat pass-through line such as trash. Splitting one master-meter bill without submeters is a different job. Use the free RUBS calculator for that.
Is billing tenants for submetered water regulated?
In many states, yes: submetered water generally must be billed at cost with itemized reads, and some states cap service fees or require specific disclosures. Every bill this tool produces itemizes both reads, the rate, and each line so the math is checkable. Confirm your state’s rules before you send. This is a calculator, not legal advice.
Lot Sidekick does this every cycle without the paste: your reads go in once, every lot's water line lands on its rent bill automatically, and who's-paid is tracked on a live map of your park. See how it works or call (425) 405-0734.