Water Rates

Understanding Your Water Bill

ACWD bills customers every other month, or six times per year. On these bimonthly bills, a customer is billed both a fixed "service charge" and a "consumption charge" based on the quantity of water used during the billing period. To learn more about how the District sets water rates and charges, please visit the Water Rates Process page. You may also view the full Schedule of Rates and Fees.

Water Shortage Emergency Stage Rates

The District declared a Stage 2 water shortage emergency in December 2021, with a 15% systemwide reduction in demand. In order to ensure that the District receives sufficient revenues to cover its cost of providing water service when consumption has decreased, the District has adopted Water Shortage Emergency Stage Rates. Stage Rates are set up incrementally to reflect the levels of water shortage emergency as defined in the District's Urban Water Management Plan, specifically the Water Shortage Contingency Plan. The current stage rate, which is in addition to, and on top of, the the standard base per unit water consumption rate for customers both inside and outside the District, is $0.82 per unit of water. At the end of March, the District Board of Directors rescinded the Water Shortage Emergency Stage Rates effective April 1. Bills issued in April and May will be pro-rated accordingly.

Water Shortage Stage	Systemwide Demand Reduction	Stage Rate Amount
0	0%	$0.000/Unit
1	10%	$0.52/Unit
2a	15%	$0.82/Unit
2b	20%	$1.16/Unit
3a	25%	$1.55/Unit
3b	30%	$2.00/Unit
4	40%	$3.12/Unit
5	50%	$4.62/Unit
6	Up to 60%	$6.90/Unit

Bimonthly Meter Service Charge

Water customers are charged a fixed service charge based on the size of each meter at the customer’s property. For residential customers – who typically have a meter accommodating either 5/8- or 3/4-inch pipe -- the current service charge is $61.30 bi-monthly. The charge is designed to recover costs which do not vary with consumption. These costs include meter reading and billing customers for each bimonthly period, a portion of the District's debt service costs, and maintenance and replacement of meters and service lines in the distribution system. The charge is in addition to the District's commodity charge which is based on the amount of water consumed.

Meter Size	Current Charge
5/8" & 3/4"	$ 61.30
1" Meter	$ 97.95
1-1/2" Meter	$ 189.54
2" Meter	$ 299.47
3" Meter	$ 647.55
4" Meter	$ 1,160.50
6" Meter	$ 2,937.54
8" Meter	$ 5,135.95
10" Meter	$ 7,700.75

Consumption Charge

The water consumption charge is based on the number of "units" used by each customer. One unit is equivalent to 100 cubic feet or 748 gallons of water. The water consumption charge is currently $4.78 per unit for the typical customer.

The average single-family residential customer currently uses about 16 units of water in a two-month billing cycle, or about 200 gallons per day. This means an average bi-monthly bill of $137.78

Commodity Rates (All Customers):

Type	Base Rate Per 100 Cubic Feet (100 Cubic Feet Equals 748 Gallons)
Inside District	$4.78
Outside District	$5.46

Bi-monthly Private Fire Service Charge
Private fire services are charged a bimonthly service charge based on the size of the service line.

Service Line Size (Inch)	Amount
3/4"	$ 8.25
1"	$ 8.44
2"	$ 10.37
4"	$ 22.32
6"	$ 49.47
8"	$ 96.29
10"	$ 166.73
12"	$ 264.36

Cost Breakdown

To help customers understand how the District spends its funds, ACWD illustrates the FY 2022/23 budget in two ways: by major revenues and expenses.

Customer Assistance Program - Help on Tap

ACWD recognizes some customers may experience difficulty paying their water bills. The District’s customer assistance program, Help on Tap, provides income-qualified residential customers a credit equal to 100% of the bimonthly water service charge, currently $61.30.

More information and applications for Help on Tap are available on the District’s website.

Read more about the Help on Tap program or call 510.668.4200 for details.