SIDEBAR: WHO CAN — AND CAN'T — SUBMETER

There are two pocketbooks that can help pay for submetering projects. One is your own, and the other is that of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. NYSERDA launched its Energy Reduction in Master Metered Multifamily Buildings Program in March 2011. With $9.8 million to spend through 2015 on submetering, NYSERDA is now open for business. That is, a certain type of business.

The NYSERDA program won't fund your building if it's a Mitchell-Lama, although most of these buildings have only one electrical meter. They were built in the 1950s and 1960s (when the cost of electricity was cheap) as affordable rental and cooperative housing for moderate- and middle-income families. There are about 169,000 apartments in this universe, and they make up a significant portion of master-metered buildings. The PSC now regards all Mitchell-Lama residents as low-income.

86'ing Section 8

Nor will you get NYSERDA support if residents in your building receive rental housing assistance under Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, which pretty much knocks out the 200,000 New York City Housing Authority units.

There is one fairly large group of buildings left for NYSERDA to tap, and that's those of co-ops founded with mortgage guarantees under Section 13 of the federal housing act — commonly referred to as "Section 213s." There are about 200 buildings, or 250,000 apartments, that were built as middle-income housing with one master meter. But as a group, they are generally not interested in submetering. Philosophically, many Section 213s believe that the value of their apartments is enhanced because everyone is treated equally. This thinking flies in the face of energy conservation, but it's prevalent in Queens and Brooklyn, where most of the 213s are.

All in all, combine Mitchell-Lama buildings with low-income ones and the prevalent Section 213 mindset against submetering, and you're left with… well, not a very big universe to submeter. In fact, at a maximum incentive of $250 per submeter, NYSERDA has to find about 39,000 apartment units willing to make the switch within the next four years. To complicate NYSERDA's job, as of early September, there has been only one type of submeter approved to get incentive funding, even though there are many on the market.