Utility Cost Mapping



Utility costs drive up the cost of housing; tools that uncover inefficiencies or high rates can help renters and owners factor in unexpected costs when house-hunting. 


Benefits & Problems Addressed

Incentivizing efficiency upgrades: Transparency helps address the investment mismatch that exists when renters pay for utilities (no incentive for upgradews) or when landlords pay (no renter incentive to curb use). 

Economic competitiveness: Transparency can pressure high cost providers. 

Meeting climate commitments: A utility map is a proxy for energy use and tracking. 


Tips & Techniques

Utilties and costs to map: Begin with available data sets from public utllities like water, trash, sewer and power.  If possible include cable, telephone and transit calculators to reveal true costs of living.

Work with energy efficiency groups: Public, private and non-profit energy efficiency providers have, and can benefit from, energy data. 

Provide a crowdsourcing function: Provide a platform in case utility and other data unavailable.

Hot Buttons: Utiltiies may not reveal pricing information. Verifyign crowdsourced information may be difficult.


Resources & Examples

Rent Rocket, Bloomington IN US