The task of the residential community is to form interest in energy saving for the residents. The preconditions of this are the establishment of the technical conditions of the regulated heating, the awareness of the residents of the energy saving behaviour and last but not least the installation and operation of a fair cost allocation system which is acceptable for every member of the community. 

Cost allocation is a settlement technique performed not by the district heating supplier, but the professional companies dealing with it. The operation of the system has a separate fee, i.e. cost (readings, making settlements), for which the residential community shall conclude a separate agreement with the service provider company. 

The cost allocator is not a certified measuring device; it performs only proportioning. Types: liquid-containing, electric and radio-frequency cost allocators. To ensure precise settlement, the cost allocators are installed to comply with the type and performance of the radiator in the flat. In this way, the temperature of the given room and the radiator can be measured, and the measurement data can be recorded. These are the factors to provide the basis of the precise settlement. 

During the cost allocation process, the relative proportion of the heat consumption of each flat in the given building can be determined with the help of the cost allocators installed on every radiator within the building. 

The reading of cost allocators may need personal presence, however, in case of devices with radio-frequency transmitters, there is no need for visiting the residents to collect the data. 

The district heating supplier measures the heat consumption in the heat centre by a certified heat meters, and this heat is distributed proportionally to the readings of the cost allocators among the residents, based on the data of the cost allocation company contracted by the residential community. 

Application of corrections: The excess heat consumption of rooms of identical temperature and floor area may arise not only due to the wasteful behaviour, but the location of the flat within the building may also play a role, since the consumption of a flat with larger cooling area is going to be always higher than that of a flat in the middle and surrounded by multiple flats, even in case of an identical internal temperature. This difference originating from technical reasons may justify the application of a correction. This correction is a part of the own internal operation of the condominium or housing cooperative, a decision thereon can be brought by the general assembly, based on the recommendation of the company operating the whole cost allocator system.