D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 15, r. 15-4407
Bills shall be rendered for the same billing period as that of the utility, generally monthly, unless the rental agreement or lease expressly provides otherwise. Bills shall be calculated and rendered as promptly as possible following receipt by the owner of the bill from the utility, but no later than fourteen (14) days after receipt of the utility's bill. The submetering or energy allocation equipment shall be read within five (5) business days of the scheduled reading date of the utility's master meter.
For submetering, the unit of measurement shall be the energy unit as defined in section 4499 (Definitions). For energy allocation equipment, the units of measurement shall be those characteristics monitored by the allocation equipment.
The energy billed to any tenant shall constitute only the energy consumed within that nonresidential rental unit and so measured or monitored by the equipment. The cost of energy used in owner-paid areas may be recovered by the owner only as provided in subsection 4407.12, and may not be billed to any tenant as part of the billings rendered pursuant to this chapter and may not be measured through the nonresidential rental unit submetering or energy allocation equipment. Where permitted by tenant lease agreements, energy costs for usage consumed within the nonresidential rental unit, which are not allocated by energy allocation equipment, may be allocated by the owner among the various tenants in the same proportions as the leased space square footage. These costs shall be listed separately from energy billings based on energy allocation equipment, and appropriately marked on the monthly tenant bills.
The owner shall render bills to the tenant in the same energy unit(s) as that billed to the owner by the utility.
The tenant's bills shall be calculated in the following manner:
After the owner receives the electric or natural gas bill from the utility, the owner shall divide the "total current charges" by the total number of energy units billed by the utility to determine the average cost in cents per energy unit. The average energy unit cost shall be multiplied by each tenant's energy unit consumption to obtain the tenant's monthly charges.
For the purposes of computing the average cost per energy unit, the "total current charges" shall include or exclude the following, as applicable:
The owner may impose a reasonable monthly service charge per nonresidential rental unit to offset the administrative cost of billing, reflecting the actual costs of materials and labor for preparing tenants' bills, in accordance with D.C. Official Code §§ 34-1552(b)(1) and 34-1553(d) (2010 Repl.).
The tenant's bill shall show all of the following information:
Bills shall be mailed or delivered to the tenant's premises within five (5) business days after the billing date.
Estimated bills shall not be rendered unless the meter or energy allocation equipment has been tampered with, or is out of order, or where access cannot be attained, or where the property owner receives an estimated bill from the utility company and, in any such case, the bill shall be distinctly marked "estimated." Such estimates shall be based upon one (1) of the following:
Adjustment to a tenant's bill shall be made under any of the following conditions:
Nothing contained in these rules shall prohibit the owner from recovery, in periodic lease payments, of the tenant's fair share of electricity or natural gas costs attributable to owner-paid areas and costs incurred in establishing and maintaining the submetering system or energy allocation equipment.
Initial and final bills shall be rendered for the number of energy units actually consumed in the initial and final billing periods.
On the date possession is taken by a tenant of a nonresidential rental unit, an initial reading will be taken from the submetering or energy allocation equipment serving such nonresidential rental unit to commence service to that tenant. The initial reading will be subtracted from the next reading of the equipment (taken on the regularly scheduled monthly reading dates on which other submetering or energy allocation equipment in the building is read) to determine the consumption during the initial billing period. The energy units consumed as determined in the above manner will be multiplied by the average energy unit cost which is determined for the computation of bills for all other tenants for the period ending with the regularly scheduled reading date of that month.
On the date a tenant surrenders a nonresidential rental unit, a final reading will be taken from the submeter equipment serving such unit to terminate service to that tenant. The reading of the equipment taken on the last previous regularly scheduled monthly reading dates on which other submetering or energy allocation equipment in the building was last read will be subtracted from the final reading to determine the consumption during the final billing period. The energy units consumed or determined in the above manner will be multiplied by the average energy unit cost which is determined for the computation of bills for all other tenants for the regularly scheduled monthly reading date after the final reading. If the owner and tenant so agree in writing, the owner may use the average energy unit cost from the previous month when determining the amount due for the last month of tenancy.
A late payment charge shall not be imposed on all amounts, including deferred payment installments, paid by the due date or on amounts in dispute before the Commission. Amounts paid after the due date shall bear a late payment charge of one percent (1%) and an additional late payment charge at the rate of one and one-half percent (1.5%) on the remaining unpaid balance per billing month thereafter.
D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 15, r. 15-4407