Individual Meters in a Plex: Who Pays the Electricity, Heat Included or Not, and the Impact on Yield

ImmoMulti — a direct buyer of multi-unit properties on the North Shore — regularly sees the same confusion among owners: individual electricity meters in a plex and the question of who pays what. One meter per unit is not enough to make the tenant pay for electricity; everything depends on what the lease says about included services. This guide untangles the separation of Hydro-Quebec meters, the difference between heat included and not included, and the real effect on your rent and yield — with the official sources to verify every point.

Separate meters in a plex: what really changes

Separating the meters means giving each unit its own Hydro-Quebec meter, plus a separate meter for common areas. It lets each tenant open an account and pay their consumption — but only if the lease does not declare electricity as included in the rent. The meter is a technical prerequisite; the lease determines who pays.

Many owners believe that installing individual meters automatically shifts the bill to the tenant. That is not the case. A plex can perfectly well have one meter per unit while still providing electricity for free because the lease says it is "included." Conversely, a single-meter building necessarily forces the landlord to pay for everything, since there is no way to distinguish each tenant's consumption.

On the North Shore — Terrebonne, Mascouche, Blainville, Boisbriand, Saint-Eustache — older plexes are often fed by a single meter with heat included, while recent builds provide separate meters from the outset. The configuration is inherited directly from the year of construction and past renovations. For the exact connection and requirements, the reference is Hydro-Quebec — metering and billing.

Who pays what by your plex's configuration

Three scenarios: individual meters with electricity charged to the tenant (the tenant pays), heat or electricity included in the lease (the landlord pays despite separate meters), and a single meter (the landlord pays everything). The common-area meter almost always stays in the landlord's name.

Here is how the bill breaks down according to the most common situations in Quebec plexes:

The rule to remember: the meter alone never decides. An individual meter makes it possible to shift the bill, but it is the "Services" section of the Quebec lease from the Administrative Housing Tribunal that makes it official. To understand exactly how that section works, see our guide to reading a Quebec lease section by section.

ImmoMulti Renovation CalculatorEstimate the cost of separating your plex's meters

→

Decoding the Hydro-Quebec bill: Rate D, Rate DM and common areas

A unit with an individual meter is almost always billed at the residential Rate D: a daily system access charge, plus two energy tiers (a lower-priced first tier up to 40 kWh per day, then a higher tier beyond). A single meter feeding several units may fall under Rate DM, with a multiplier equal to the number of units. The common-area meter is a separate account, in the landlord's name.

To decide intelligently who pays what in your plex, you first have to understand how Hydro-Quebec bills. The confusion over "who pays the electricity" often stems from misunderstanding the rate structure: it is not just a matter of kilowatt-hours consumed, but also of fixed charges and price tiers. Let's look at the three rates that concern a plex owner.

Rate D: each unit's residential rate

When a tenant opens an account in their name for their individually metered unit, they are billed at Rate D, the standard domestic rate. This rate has two components: a system access charge billed each day whether the unit consumes anything or not, and a two-tier energy price. Under Hydro-Quebec's rate schedule in effect April 1, 2026, the first tier covers energy consumed up to 40 kWh per day (times the number of days in the period), at a lower price, and the second tier applies to all energy beyond, at a higher price. Domestic rates rose by 3% on April 1, 2026. The official parameters are published in Hydro-Quebec's electricity rate schedule.

Concretely, a well-insulated unit that consumes little benefits mostly from the first tier, whereas a large electrically heated unit in midwinter shifts a big share of its consumption into the more expensive second tier. It is precisely this volatility — seasonal, behavioral and rate-driven — that you shift to the tenant when electricity is not included in the lease. The one item the landlord can never transfer is the charge and consumption of the common areas.

Rate DM: when a single meter feeds several units

A building with a single meter feeding several units may be billed at Rate DM, designed for multi-unit residential buildings. Its distinctive feature: a multiplier corresponding to the number of units, applied to the charge, the energy-tier thresholds and the base billing demand. There is also a demand charge if the power demand exceeds the greater of 50 kW or 4 kW times the multiplier. The full rules are on Hydro-Quebec's Rate DM page.

Why does this matter to a seller? Because a building on Rate DM means the landlord pays for everything, for lack of separation. At resale, an investor-buyer will immediately see this expense on the statement and factor it into their yield calculation — often to your disadvantage if you never adjusted rents accordingly. It is one of the rare items where the building's technical setup has a direct, measurable effect on the price a buyer is willing to offer.

The common-area meter: the expense everyone forgets

Even in the best-separated plex, there is almost always a meter in the landlord's name: the common areas. It powers hallway and entrance lighting, the surveillance system, the sump pump, shared ventilation, sometimes the laundry room or a garage outlet. This expense is modest but recurring and unavoidable: it must appear in your operating budget, because it reduces your real net income. Many owners forget it when estimating yield, which artificially inflates the building's financial picture.

Heat included or not: the lease decides

Even with separate meters, if the lease states "heat included" or "electricity included," the landlord pays. The services section of the Quebec lease lists what is provided. Removing an included service during a lease term is a modification of the conditions, governed by the Administrative Housing Tribunal.

Heat included is the most frequent source of confusion. A plex with individual meters whose leases say "heat included" does not make the tenant pay for heat, no matter that each unit is heated electrically on its own meter: if the account is in the landlord's name or the service is declared included, the landlord bears it. The distinction between heat included and not included is therefore contractual before it is technical.

You cannot unilaterally decide, mid-lease, to stop paying the electricity of a unit where it was included. Removing a service is a modification of the lease conditions, which must go through a notice of modification at renewal and, in case of disagreement, through the Tribunal, which will assess the corresponding rent adjustment. The rules on services and rent fixing are detailed on the site of the Administrative Housing Tribunal.

Sources: Hydro-Quebec — metering and billing and Administrative Housing Tribunal (services included in the lease, modification of conditions).

Removing an included service: the Tribunal process step by step

You don't remove electricity or heat from an ongoing lease overnight. Removing an included service is a modification of the lease conditions: it goes through a written notice within the legal deadlines at renewal, must come with a rent adjustment, and is settled before the Administrative Housing Tribunal if the tenant refuses. Here is how the process unfolds, with no gray zones.

This is the step owners underestimate most. Installing meters is technical. Making a tenant pay for electricity that used to be supplied to them is tenancy law, and the framework is strict in Quebec. Here is the procedure for a unit whose lease indicates an included service.

Step 1 — Check what the lease actually says

First, reread the "Services and conditions" section of the lease. A service is "included" only if stated as such, or if constant use has established it. If the lease is silent and the tenant has always paid their own account, electricity is probably not included: there is then nothing to remove, and you have no process to undertake. The first question is therefore not "how to remove?" but "is it really included?". To parse every box of the lease, see our guide to reading a Quebec lease section by section.

Step 2 — Wait for the right moment: renewal

A modification of the lease conditions — which removing an included service is part of — is done at renewal, not mid-term. You must send a written notice of modification to the tenant within the deadlines set by law: for a twelve-month lease, the notice is generally given three to six months before expiry. The notice must clearly state the proposed modification (removal of included electricity or heat) and the corresponding rent adjustment. The exact deadlines and forms are detailed by the Administrative Housing Tribunal.

Step 3 — Propose a coherent rent adjustment

Removing a service has a counterpart: the rent should logically drop by the value of the removed service, otherwise you are asking the tenant to pay twice. A "heat included" unit commands a higher rent than an identical unit where the tenant pays everything; by shifting the bill, you must return that premium in the rent. A poorly calibrated adjustment is the leading cause of a challenge before the Tribunal.

Step 4 — Handle the tenant's response

The tenant has a deadline to respond to the notice of modification. Three outcomes are possible:

Step 5 — Coordinate the account transfer with Hydro-Quebec

Once the modification is in effect, the tenant must open their account in their name with Hydro-Quebec — recall that the landlord cannot do it on their behalf. Plan the coordination to avoid any day without an account holder, a period during which supply would revert to the landlord. It is a logistical detail, but an oversight can cost you an electricity bill you thought you had transferred.

Impact on rent and yield

When the tenant pays their own electricity, you remove a variable and unpredictable expense from your net operating income, which stabilizes yield and, at an equal capitalization rate, supports the building's economic value. But if you exclude a previously included service, the rent generally has to drop accordingly: the net gain depends on the starting point.

The value of an income property is calculated from its net income and the capitalization rate (cap rate). An electricity expense borne by the landlord is especially penalizing because it varies with rates, weather and tenants' habits — three factors outside your control. By shifting electricity to the tenants, you make your expenses more predictable, which reassures buyers and lenders. To understand how net income and the cap rate work, read our guide to calculating a multiplex's yield.

Beware, though, of the optical illusion: on rent, a "heat included" unit rents for more than one where the tenant pays everything. If you convert a building from included to not included, the rent should logically drop by the estimated value of the removed service. The real gain is therefore not "the tenant pays and I keep the same rent": it is the predictability of your expenses and the building's appeal to an investor-buyer.

Worked example: a Terrebonne triplex, included vs not included

Take a fictional but realistic triplex to illustrate the real effect of meters on value. The lesson: shifting electricity to the tenant does not mechanically add the former expense to net income, because the rent of an "all included" unit is higher to begin with. The gain comes from expense predictability and buyer appeal, not from a net income that would jump as if by magic.

The figures below are demonstration assumptions, rounded for clarity. They do not represent a specific building and do not replace an analysis of your own statement. The goal is to show the mechanics, not to provide benchmarks.

The starting scenario: all included, single meter

Imagine a triplex on the North Shore, in Terrebonne, where electricity and heat are included in the rents and the building is fed by a single meter. Each unit rents for $1,300 a month, service included, i.e. $46,800 in gross annual revenue. The owner pays the building's total electricity — say $9,600 a year for the three units plus common areas.

Notice first what stands out: net operating income is higher in scenario B ($24,200 vs $21,200), but not by the full $9,600 of electricity. Why? Because in removing the included service, we had to lower rents by $150 per unit to reflect that the tenant now pays their own bill. The real net gain is not $8,400 (electricity savings), but roughly $3,000, once the $5,400 rent reduction is subtracted. This is exactly the trap described earlier.

The effect on value: the cap-rate lever

The real question, for a seller, is the effect on value. An income property is capitalized: its economic value approaches net income divided by the capitalization rate (cap rate). Let's apply a hypothetical cap rate of 5.5%, representative of a quality plex on the North Shore.

Here is the crux. Even though the "cash" net-income gain is only $3,000 a year, capitalizing that gain at a 5.5% cap rate adds roughly $55,000 to the building's theoretical value. That is where the appeal of separating meters lies for a seller: less in immediate cash flow than in the exit value and ease of financing for the buyer. To master this capitalization mechanic, our guide to calculating a multiplex's yield details every variable, and the cap rate calculator lets you test your own numbers.

Should you separate an existing plex's meters?

Separation is not mandatory for an existing plex: many run on a single meter with heat included. It is a management investment requiring work by a master electrician (panels, rewiring, a meter base compliant with Hydro-Quebec, permits). It is mainly justified when expense volatility weighs on your yield or at resale.

Separating the meters of an existing building is a non-trivial electrical project: new panels per unit, rewiring, a meter base compliant with Hydro-Quebec standards, permits, and sometimes an upgrade of the electrical service. The cost varies widely with the state of the installation and the number of units. Before committing:

• Get several quotes from master electricians, and require a breakdown of the items (panels, permits, meter base, connection).
• Confirm connection requirements with Hydro-Quebec to avoid costly rework.
• Model the net scenario: cost of work vs. annual expense savings, accounting for the rent adjustment if services were included.
• Mind the lease calendar: converting an included service is planned at renewal, not at any time.

In many cases, separation happens naturally as tenants leave and renovations occur, which smooths the investment and avoids imposing a change of service on a sitting tenant.

Separating the meters: the electrical job in detail

Separating an existing plex's meters is a master-electrician job: new panels per unit, rewiring to isolate each circuit, a meter base compliant with Hydro-Quebec standards, a municipal permit, and often an upgrade of the electrical service. The cost depends mostly on the state of the existing wiring and the number of units. There is no universal price: you need quotes.

This is where owners are most often caught off guard. "Adding a meter" sounds trivial, but in a building with shared wiring it means rebuilding the electrical architecture so that each unit's consumption is physically isolated and measured separately. Here are the main steps and cost items.

The main steps of the job

1. Diagnosis by a master electrician: assess the existing service, the available capacity and the state of the wiring. This is where you find out whether the project is simple or heavy.
2. Design and permits: a circuit-separation plan, filing the permit with the municipality, and a connection request with Hydro-Quebec.
3. Service upgrade: often necessary, since a converted plex requires greater total capacity than a historical single meter.
4. Installing a meter base compliant with Hydro-Quebec requirements, with one location per unit plus one for common areas.
5. Rewiring and panels: one panel per unit, each circuit reconnected to the right panel — the longest and most costly step in an older building.
6. Inspection and final connection: validation by the competent authority, then meter installation by Hydro-Quebec.

The precise metering and connection requirements are published by Hydro-Quebec — metering and billing. Confirm them before work begins: a non-compliant meter base can trigger costly rework.

What drives the bill

Because these factors vary enormously from one building to another, the realistic range runs from a few thousand to several tens of thousands of dollars. That is precisely why you need at least two or three detailed quotes, item by item, rather than a ballpark figure. To frame your overall work budget, our renovation calculator helps you model the scenario before committing.

Heating type and meters: baseboards, heat pump, gas, oil

The type of heating changes the "who pays what." Electric heating (baseboards or heat pump) runs through the unit's meter, so it shifts to the tenant if the lease allows. Natural gas and oil have their own meter or tank and their own billing, often in the landlord's name. Converting to individual electric heating can clarify the split.

We talk a lot about electricity, but the heating mode largely determines who can pay what. Let's review the common cases in Quebec plexes.

Electric baseboard heating

This is the most widespread case in North Shore plexes. Each unit is heated by electric baseboards fed by its own panel and meter. Heating consumption then blends into the unit's electricity bill. If the lease does not include electricity, the tenant pays their heating with no special process: it is the simplest configuration to transfer.

Heat pump heating

The heat pump is still an electrical appliance: it draws on the meter of the unit it serves. Its distinctive feature is its efficiency — it heats and cools while consuming less than a baseboard for the same comfort, which lowers the tenant's bill. For an owner, converting to a heat pump can therefore make an "electricity-to-the-tenant" unit more attractive, since the perceived energy load drops. Our guide to converting a plex's heating to a heat pump details the calculation and the subsidies.

Natural gas and oil

Natural gas and oil follow a distinct logic from electricity. Gas is billed by the gas distributor on its own meter; oil is delivered into a tank and paid at delivery. In both cases, billing is often global for the building, which complicates the split by unit and tends to leave the expense with the landlord. Converting central gas or oil heating to individual electric heating is precisely one of the levers to cleanly shift the cost of heat to tenants — but it is a heavy project, to be costed carefully.

Meters and the transaction: due diligence when buying, value when selling

When buying, meter configuration and lease content are part of due diligence: who pays each unit's electricity directly changes real net income. When selling, a plex with separate meters and predictable expenses reassures an investor-buyer and eases financing, without guaranteeing a higher price. In both cases, you must look at the lease as much as the meter.

What a savvy buyer checks

When an investor analyzes your plex, they do not rely on "there are individual meters." They check concretely:

• The number of meter bases on the wall or in the electrical room, and what each corresponds to.
• The real holder of each Hydro-Quebec account: tenant or landlord?
• The "Services" section of each lease: electricity and heat included or not, unit by unit.
• The common-area electricity expense, often omitted from the financials provided by the seller.
• The consistency between posted rents and included services: a "low" rent can hide a costly "all included."

This verification overlaps with the full analysis of leases before an acquisition: our article on reading a Quebec lease section by section serves as a reading grid. Any inconsistency between what the seller says and what the leases and Hydro-Quebec accounts say is a signal to dig into.

Positioning your plex for sale

If you are selling, present the meter question transparently and with documentation. A clear file — meter configuration, account holders, up-to-date leases, common-area expense — inspires confidence and reduces negotiation back-and-forth. A building with predictable expenses sells faster, because it reassures the buyer as much as their lender. Remember, though, that separate meters are an asset, not a price multiplier: value remains anchored in income, the building's condition and the market cap rate.

Special cases: rooms, laundry, EV charger, roommates

Beyond the classic plex, several situations blur the split: rooming houses billed differently, the shared laundry on the landlord's meter, the EV charger, and roommate situations where several tenants share one meter. Each requires a clear lease clause to avoid disputes.

Rooming houses and units with rooms

In a building with rooms rather than full units, separation by meter is rarely possible: rooms often share electricity, included in the price. It is also a case where the applicable rate differs — the Rate DM multiplier, for example, counts rooms differently from units. Here, electricity is almost always the landlord's responsibility, which must be reflected in the asking price.

Laundry and shared equipment

A shared laundry, a sump pump, an exterior light fixture or a garage outlet are connected to the common-area meter, hence paid by the landlord. If the laundry generates revenue (paid machines), it is a special case to cost: the landlord bears the electricity but collects the receipts. Do not confuse this expense with that of the units.

The EV charging station

With the electrification of transport, the EV charger is becoming a recurring question in plexes. The crucial point: on which meter is the charger connected? If it is on a unit's meter, the tenant pays for the charging. If it is on the common-area meter, the landlord pays — a bill that can climb fast. Any charger installation in a rental building should come with a clear clause on who pays for the energy and maintenance.

Roommates on a shared meter

When several roommates share one unit on a single meter, the question is no longer "landlord or tenant" but "how do the roommates split the bill among themselves." From the landlord's point of view, what matters is still the lease clause: if electricity is not included, the lease holder(s) pay, and it is up to them to organize. An ambiguous clause is a classic source of conflict; better to specify from the outset who holds the Hydro-Quebec account.

"The meter measures the energy; it is the lease that splits the bill." In all these special cases, the same rule applies: without a written clause consistent with the technical reality, the expense falls back on the landlord.

Common mistakes to avoid

The question of meters and services is simple in principle but tricky in practice. The most common pitfalls:

• Believing the meter is enough: without a consistent lease clause, an individual meter shifts nothing.
• Removing an included service without process: it requires a notice of modification and, in case of dispute, a hearing at the Tribunal.
• Forgetting to adjust the rent: moving a unit from included to not included without lowering rent invites a challenge.
• Neglecting the common-area meter: it stays with the landlord and must be budgeted separately.
• Underestimating separation costs: panels, permits and connection can turn a "small" project into a major job.
• Not checking the Hydro-Quebec account holder: when buying, confirm who actually pays for each unit.