Unlike living in a single family home, Midtown Atlanta Condominium Utilities are different in how they are aid for.
In many Midtown Atlanta Condominium buildings, part of your monthly homeowner’s association dues (HOA) pay for some of the utilities. Some buildings include the water and sewer charges in the HOA fee, and others do not. This is an important consideration in that the City of Atlanta has some rather high water and sewere charges. When shopping for your Midtown Atlanta Condominium, be sure your real estate agent finds out exactly which utilities are paid for as part of the HOA fee.
Some buildings also sub-meter the electricity. What does that mean? It means the building gets one bill for the entire building, and then it is billed out to each individual unit based on the consumption. It makes it easy for the homeowner in writing one check to the HOA for your fees, including electricity, water and sewer. However, it can put a real strain on the HOA. Why? Well, if a homeowner is delinquent on their HOA fees, the HOA is paying their electric bill. And say the homeowner goes into foreclosure and does not pay 3-4 months of HOA dues, then the HOA has paid that electric bill! Yikes!
It seems that one homeowners association has decided to change that. Earlier this month, the Board of Directors of Spire Midtown voted to move from one Georgia Power Master Electircal meter to individual unit Georgia Power 406 SMART meters for individual units. So, what are some of the benefits that homeowners in Spire Midtown will get from this new change:
- Every home will be charged the residential rate vs. the commercial rate. Here is the Georgia Power Pricing Comparison.
- The Association will no longer be forced to pay for delinquent homeowners bills.
- Residents will get a more accurate bill directly from Georgia Power and will be able to contact them directly regarding billing issues.
It will be interesting to see how this progresses and if we see other Midtown Atlanta Condominium utilities in buildings being changed to an individual billing system in the future.
