How utilities are billed to the tenant.
Also known as: Utility Allocation
By Angel Campa, Founder · Updated March 2026
The utility payment method (direct meter, sub-meter, or pro rata allocation) significantly affects cost fairness. A direct meter gives the tenant control over their own usage and costs. Pro rata allocation forces the tenant to subsidize neighbors with higher usage. A 24/7 data center tenant allocated utilities pro rata alongside 9-to-5 offices could overpay by 40-60%. Understanding the billing method is essential for budgeting and cost control.
Found in the "Utilities" section or within the operating expense provisions. Look for whether utilities are "directly metered," "sub-metered," or "included in operating expenses." The specific utilities covered (electric, gas, water, telecom) should be itemized.
Lextract uses a combination of AWS Textract OCR and Claude AI to identify and extract the utilities payment from your lease PDF. The AI searches for the field name and common aliases like "Utility Allocation" across all pages of the document, then assigns a confidence score based on OCR quality and extraction certainty. Fields with lower confidence are flagged for human review.
Janitorial Services
Identifies whether the landlord or tenant is responsible for cleaning the premises.
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The number of elevated loading bays designed to align with semi-truck beds.
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The three main methods are: (1) direct metering (tenant pays utility company directly), (2) sub-metering (landlord meters individual suites and bills tenants for actual usage), and (3) pro rata allocation (utilities included in operating expenses and shared proportionally). Direct metering is most fair; pro rata can subsidize heavy users.
The landlord typically provides base utility infrastructure (main service connections, distribution panels, standard capacity). Tenants who need above-standard capacity (extra HVAC, dedicated electrical circuits, generator connections) usually pay for the upgrades and may pay higher utility rates.
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