• Comment: Sources are either primary (like government sites) which should be used very sparingly and/or not reliable (commercial sites offering products and services). I suggest looking for scholarly papers such as studies by academics about the impacts of RUBS. (Side note: it is covered in the Utility submeter article]]). S0091 (talk) 16:58, 4 May 2025 (UTC)

• Comment: I'm not sure if you're stating your own criticisms or not in the relevant section because there are no sources. Please note we really don't need "editor's opinion" stuff in articles. ABG (Talk/Report any mistakes here) 00:47, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

The Ratio Utility Billing System (RUBS) describes any method used to determine the amount of a fee which is labeled to represent a landlord's business expense (typically but not necessarily a utility expense) and is charged to a tenant by a landlord, but not based on actual consumption of the utility or expense-incurring resource by the tenant.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Typical landlord expenses in this system include but are not limited to water, sewer, electric utilities or internet service.^[2] There is no requirement that the total fee revenue be less than or equal to the landlord expense to which it is related and there is no set method to calculate the fee.^[4]. However, state and local ordinances may impact the fee calculation.^[5] RUBS is not legal in all US states.^[6]

The fee may have various names, but is often referred to as a utility fee. It is an additional fee paid to the landlord on top of the stated rent in the lease.^[7] The IRS requires RUBS payments to be included in gross rent.^[1] Landlords often use a 3rd party collector for this fee.

The contract structure created by the Ratio Utility Billing System is a cost plus fixed fee contract with no cost ceiling.^[8] The cost is the fee related to the landlord business expense; the fixed fee is the stated rent in the lease. Such a contract usually contains a "shall not exceed" or "not to exceed" value (a cost ceiling).^{[9] [10]}