Hacker News Reader

One thing that threw me off in Europe is that apartments will still have individually metered water and natural gas (probably paying more in monthly account fees than usage...).

Like a cold water tap, I guess the temperature of the gas can really warm up in the pipes when it isn't run enough to get 'fresh' cold water/gas from underground quickly.

View on HN

At where I live, trading water is forbidden. We rent appartments and we must not have any profit on the water. Usually, the consumption is separated per person, but sometimes that is not possible (when there are stores, for instance).

For an odd reason, however, flat rate is acceptable, so you can charge tenants a fixed monthly fee and make an actual profit out of it. Sure, there's a risk you set the flat rate price wrong.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com