Heating: metering and cost allocation

With central heating we measure how much heat each home uses, and we split the cost using the criteria set by the rules. That way everyone pays their own share.

The service

How we measure the heat each home uses

Metering means measuring how much each home uses, so that everyone pays for what they use. We use two kinds of device, depending on the system.

Heat cost allocators on the radiators

A heat cost allocator is a small electronic device fitted to each radiator: it records how much heat that radiator gives off. Add up the values from all the radiators, and you get how much heat that home has used.

Heat meters

A heat meter directly measures all the heat that comes into your home from the building's system. It is used where each home is served by its own delivery point.

How the cost is shared

The cost is split using the criteria set by the rules

The rules say how the cost of central heating must be shared, and they split it into two shares.

Usage-based share

This is the part that depends on you: how much and how often you turn the radiators on. The allocators or the heat meter measure it. Use less, and this part goes down.

Fixed share

This is the part everyone pays, whatever they do: the heat the shared system loses anyway, for example along the building's pipes. It is split among all the homes using the technical criteria set by the rules.

This is why you still pay a share even with the radiators off. It covers the heat the shared system loses, not heat used in your home. It is the question residents ask most often. The answer, with an example in figures, is on why you pay with the radiators off. Words that are not clear are explained in the glossary.

The readings

We read your consumption without coming into your home

Allocators and heat meters send their data by radio: no appointments, no waiting, no strangers in the house.

Walk-by reading

Walk-by means what it sounds like. Our technician collects the readings for the whole building from the street or from the common areas, without going up into the homes.

Remote reading

With devices that can be read remotely, the data reaches our systems directly, without even a technician passing by. This is the technology the rules require for 2027.

Want to know how electronic meters work, and how they send their data? Go to the smart metering page.

The whole process

From the readings to the heating cost statement, in four steps

The work does not end with the reading: the result is a document that has to stand up at the residents' meeting, line by line.

1. Mapping

We record the devices installed in each home and their identifying details. Everything rests on this: one device mapped wrongly throws off the figures of that home for the whole season.

2. Taking the readings

We collect the consumption recorded by the devices, on site or from a distance by radio, depending on the system. With remote reading, residents do not need an appointment at all.

3. Faults and tampering

If a device is broken or has been tampered with, the reading comes out incomplete, or does not arrive at all. We see it in the data, we send our own technicians, and the statement says how the missing figure was handled.

4. Producing the statement

We put the readings together with the cost figures you give us, and we produce the heating cost statement. It has three parts: a summary for the building, a breakdown of the costs and how they were split, and an individual sheet for each home. We hand it to you, and you pass it on to the residents.

The individual sheet is the part residents really read — and it is what the questions at the meeting are about. To answer once and for all, you can send residents two pages. One is heating in your building, where we explain the two shares with an example. The other is the guide to the statement.

The benefits

Why the whole building gains from it

Fairness. Whoever keeps the heating on longer pays more: the cost follows real consumption, not the ownership shares (millesimi) alone.
Fewer arguments at the residents' meeting. Every item is documented and can be compared with previous years, so the figures settle it.
Consumption under control. Residents see the effect of their own habits and tend to cut back, and everyone shares the saving.
Just one contact. Readings, calculation, statement and help for the residents: you do not have to coordinate several suppliers.

Legal deadline

Compliant metering by 1 January 2027

Heat metering systems have to meet the new legal requirements: devices that can be read remotely, and cost allocation that follows the rules. There are 134 days until the deadline: now is the right time to plan the work.

Check your system

Find out more

Where to go from here

If your building still has devices that cannot be read remotely, the first step is to check the system before the deadline of 1 January 2027.

Write to the heating office Call 051 226693