Individuell mätning och debitering av energianvändning i flerbostadshus

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this research is to increase the understanding of individual metering and charging of heat and water in multi-dwelling houses, systems designed to allocate individual costs. Individual metering is currently on the agenda in Sweden, not because of the pressure the EU put on the building sector to improve energy performance, but rather because of shortcoming in the techniques of metering heat as well as the questions whether individual metering is actually necessary and does any good. The extension of individual metering of heat and water is very limited in Sweden in contrast to several other European countries. A survey has been carried out through questionnaires and interviews with landlords and tenants and literature studies. The survey shows on a need for individual metering and charging. Tenants simply believe that those who use more also should pay more. Speaking against individual metering and charging of heat are such as shortcomings with metering methods making it more difficult to achieve fair cost allocations, and the tenants’ difficulties to understand the individual metering, possibly because of limited or no information. Two main incentives for landlords to install individual metering and charging are energy savings and thus the environment, and fair cost allocation. However, the survey shows that tenants being critical to the metering lead to additional administrative expenses, hence negatively affecting the overall economy. The survey also indicates that it is more economically profitable to individually meter water than heat. Some of the participating landlords have as a matter of fact not even got any profit at all from metering of heat. Individual metering and charging of heat and water can still create an opportunity to reduce the energy use in multidwelling houses.