Regulation 644 respecting the conditions governing the supply of electricity state: “The customer may not resell, rent, lend, exchange or give away electricity supplied or delivered by Hydro-Québec, unless he himself is an undertaking engaged in the distribution of electricity within the meaning of the Act respecting municipal and private electric power systems (R.S.Q., c. S-41). This section may not be interpreted as prohibiting the rental of any premises or building for a rent that includes the cost of electricity.”
Also, under the terms of the Hydro-Quebec Act and the Regie de l’energie Act, it is prohibited for any person or entity in Quebec to make a profit on the resale of electricity to the end user of this energy. Consequently, the building owner can not add any administration, maintenance or other fees.
In a commercial building we can define two types of areas
1-Common areas: These are the lobby, the corridors, the electrical rooms or any other room with are not exclusively used by a tenant. As the load in the common area do not vary much as a function of the type of tenant it is equitable to distribute the energy cost among tenants based on the square feet occupied by each tenants. The vacant space should be calculated in the total tenant occupied space and billed to the landlord.
2- Areas occupied by the tenants (rental space): As the electrical consumption is different from one tenant to the other, for equity among tenants it is recommended to bill each tenant based on their real consumption with the help of meters.