California Water Service Company - Bear Gulch System
Atherton, Bear Gulch, Kings Mountain, Los Trancos, Portola Valley, Skyline, Woodside, and portions of Menlo Park and Redwood City
Population reference
61,431 people; 17,353 residential service connections, 1,395 commercial connections, and 1 industrial connection according to California Drinking Water Watch for active system CA4110006.
Billing detail
Broad public detail found
Official destination
Open provider website ↗Provider-specific findings
Billing and account research from public material
Provider-specific research notes are displayed separately from fields that contain only an unavailable-information marker. Read qualifiers in each note and verify current account terms with the provider.
- Billing frequency
- Generally monthly billing, with the bill showing the service period, meter read dates, current charges, due date, and prior balance. The exact read and due-date calendar is premise-specific.
- Rate structure
- CPUC-approved metered increasing-block residential structure for the Bear Gulch Tariff Area. Effective July 1, 2026, the 5/8 x 3/4-inch meter service charge is $55.99 per month; usage is $2.7682/CCF for 1-6 CCF, $11.1678/CCF for 7-18 CCF, $13.9703/CCF for 19-35 CCF, and $16.7935/CCF over 35 CCF. Bills are also subject to applicable CPUC, RSF, CAP, and AS schedules.
- Residential cost reference
- Using the July 1, 2026 Bear Gulch tariff, a standard 5/8 x 3/4-inch residential meter using approximately 5,000 gallons (6.68 CCF) costs about $80.24 per month including the $55.99 service charge and tiered water quantity charges. At approximately 7,000 gallons (9.36 CCF), the comparable estimate is about $110.10. These estimates exclude sewer, taxes, CPUC fees, CAP/RSF/AS adjustments, and other premise-specific charges.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- Cal Water bills the Bear Gulch potable-water charge. Sewer or wastewater charges are normally imposed separately by Atherton, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, Woodside, Redwood City, or another serving sewer agency and are not governed by one Cal Water formula. The sewer agency may use actual water consumption, a winter average, a residential cap, or a fixed equivalent-unit charge. Customers should compare the water meter usage with the separate sewer bill and ask the serving agency for its current base, usage, winter-average, and adjustment rules.
- Meter reading
- The Bear Gulch system uses customer water meters and Cal Water's periodic billing reads. The district page does not publish a fixed local AMI deployment percentage or route day; Cal Water company materials describe AMR/AMI pilots in selected districts but do not establish that every Bear Gulch account has an advanced meter. Customers should use the bill's read dates and current/previous reads, review usage history in the portal, and ask Cal Water to confirm the exact meter technology and leak-alert capability for the premise. Cal Water reports that approximately 11% of supply is local surface water from a 1,200-acre Woodside-hills watershed treated at its Atherton reservoir plant, while approximately 89% is purchased from SFPUC.
- New-account deposit
- Cal Water Rule 6 permits a cash deposit or other approved credit security when an applicant does not establish credit; the exact amount is account- and credit-specific rather than a universal Bear Gulch flat amount. Under the reviewed Rule 7 terms, after 12 consecutive months in which at least 10 bills were paid within 15 days after presentation and service was not discontinued for nonpayment, the deposit is automatically refunded as an account credit with applicable interest. A customer re-establishing service after delinquency may need to pay the balance, reconnection charges, and a deposit.
- Activation or transfer fee
- No single universal 2026 routine name-transfer fee is stated on the reviewed Bear Gulch district or payment pages. New-service connections, meters, deposits, construction, inspections, and special facilities are governed separately by Cal Water rules and tariffs. Obtain a premise-specific activation, connection, or deposit quote from the Bear Gulch District rather than assuming every transfer is free.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
100%
overview fields with research notes
California
67%
records with any overview detail
National index
50%
records with any overview detail
Coverage measures what this directory documented. It does not measure service quality, affordability, or regulatory compliance.
Research record
Broad public detail found
7 of 7 fields in this section contain provider-specific public detail in dataset August 1, 2026.
Documented
100%
Primary verification routes
- California Water Service Company - Bear Gulch System public website ↗
Provider-controlled destination used to confirm current customer instructions.
- EPA SDWIS / ECHO lookup (CA4110006) ↗
Search the federal drinking-water database using public water system ID CA4110006.