Tenant Education For Owners: Utilities Conservation

Teaching your tenants on how to conserve water and energy doesn’t have to be dull and dreary. Tenant education can be done in a fun way that also builds a stronger community. Gaining a better relationship with their neighbors plus becoming more responsible with their use of utilities can be achieved with these suggestions:

• Set up monthly meetings for all the residents and invite a local industry professional to help teach them to conserve utilities more. Visual presentations, such as videos and slideshows, are much more engaging than plain talks. Make sure to provide refreshments and other perks so tenants are encouraged to participate.
• Put up a flyer with practical tips on every bulletin board or your building’s website.
• If you already send out a periodical newsletter, include a few tips that they can follow, but if not then it’s the best time to create a monthly or quarterly newsletter. This is also a great way to keep tenants updated on relevant news about the building/neighborhood.
• Send a monthly consumption history to each occupant showing the current month of the year next to the same month from the previous year. Being able to compare rates between the present year and the last is very helpful for those who are unaware of how their usage has changed. Owners/managers can even post it on the community bulletin board to further encourage conservation.
• Start a competition among tenants and provide prizes to monthly winners. You can ask them to list the actions they would take to promote conservation or even make them compete to see who can decrease their usage the most.
• Publish information about what you have done to improve utilities efficiency at the property, such as replacing bulbs with LED lights or purchasing efficient appliances.

Don’t forget to be creative with your efforts. When your tenants are happy living at your building and feel that you are looking out for them and their best interests, it’s much more likely that they will stay with you longer, spread the word about how they enjoy living there, and even keep their unit in better shape. Help your tenants get a financial and social boost by following these tips and they’ll definitely appreciate your efforts!