Tanker cost allocation method
Why Is a Water Tanker Sometimes Necessary?
From time to time, the public water supply to the estate may be insufficient to meet the daily needs of all residents. This can occur due to maintenance works on the mains network, seasonal pressure drops, or periods of high demand. In such situations, management arranges for a water tanker (bowser) to deliver additional water directly into the estate’s main storage tank, ensuring continuity of supply for all units.
The Challenge of Fair Allocation
Unlike mains water, tanker deliveries are not metered at the point of entry — the water flows directly into the shared tank and blends with the public supply. This makes it impossible to measure exactly how much tanker water each unit consumed. A fair and transparent method is therefore needed to share the cost of the tanker among all residents.
How the Cost Is Allocated
Snap & Bill uses a method grounded in your actual meter readings and verified historical data:
- Step 1 — Determine the private units’ share of total consumption. Using billing history from previous months where no tanker was required, we calculate the average proportion of total estate water consumption attributable to private units versus common areas (corridors, gardens, pool, etc.). This ratio is established from clean, uncontaminated billing cycles and smoothed over time for reliability.
- Step 2 — Calculate the tanker cost attributable to private units. The total tanker cost is split according to this ratio. The portion corresponding to common areas is managed by the estate; the portion corresponding to private units is allocated among residents.
- Step 3 — Allocate your individual share. Your share of the private portion is proportional to your own unit’s meter reading for that billing period — the more water your unit consumed, the higher your share of the tanker cost.
What If Historical Data Is Not Yet Available?
In the early months of operation, or during extended periods when a tanker is required every month, sufficient clean billing history may not yet be available. In these cases, the tanker cost is allocated using each unit’s millieme (quote-part) — the legally established proportional share used for all common expenses in the condominium. This ensures a fair and legally grounded fallback at all times.
Our Commitment
This method is designed to be simple, transparent, and defensible. It relies on actual meter readings wherever possible and uses legally recognised proportional shares as a fallback. Every allocation is auditable and consistent across all residents.