City of Fresno Department of Public Utilities – Water Division / Utilities Billing and Collection Division

Provider briefing

How this utility’s billing works

City of Fresno Department of Public Utilities – Water Division / Utilities Billing and Collection Division operates as a municipal department serving City of Fresno and numerous county-island areas within the City’s approximately 114-square-mile water service area. Customers should use the provider’s current account-specific bill and official customer-service instructions as the final authority for deadlines, balances, and service requests.

The published water-rate framework is described as Uniform volumetric usage rate plus a fixed meter-size monthly service charge; the July 1, 2026 Master Fee Schedule does not use residential increasing-block tiers. A domestic 3/4-inch-or-smaller meter has a $13.50 monthly service charge, and each 100 cubic feet/HCF is $1.74, approximately $2.33 per 1,000 gallons. The same $1.74/HCF quantity rate applies to all customer classes, while irrigation-meter service charges differ. A $2.00 monthly backflow-prevention program fee applies where an assembly is covered. Qualified single-family residential accounts can receive up to a $5 monthly Water Affordability Credit.. Bills are generated monthly. fresno divides customers into 28 geographic billing cycles with approximately 5,000 customers billed in each cycle. a billing period is based on the meter-reading date and may not align with calendar-month boundaries., and a typical residential cost reference is Approximately $51–$56 per month for City water plus the standard single-family sewer charge at 5,000–7,000 gallons, before solid waste, community sanitation, taxes, special fees, or unusual meter charges. At 5,000 gallons, the water estimate is about $25.15 ($13.50 service plus $11.65 consumption) and the standard single-family sewer charge is $25.75, for about $50.90. At 7,000 gallons, water is about $29.81 and water-plus-sewer about $55.56. A typical complete City utility bill can be approximately $96–$101 after adding the $38.70 basic residential solid-waste charge and $6.23 community-sanitation charge; account combinations vary. A qualifying senior sewer customer pays $23.16/month instead of $25.75.. These descriptions are useful planning benchmarks; actual charges can change with meter size, usage, sewer averaging, local taxes, drought stages, or account-specific fees.

Wastewater and sewer calculation

Fresno bills residential sewer/wastewater as a flat monthly rate based on the number of dwelling units rather than a winter-average or clean-water-consumption formula. The July 1, 2026 Master Fee Schedule lists $25.75 per month for a single-family unit, made up of $8.80 capital and $16.95 operations and maintenance; a senior citizen meeting the City’s conditions pays $23.16/month, a 10% discount. Multifamily service is $25.75 for the first unit and $17.29 for each additional unit per month. Commercial and industrial wastewater is different: charges can use metered potable water or sewage flow plus BOD and TSS pound charges, with flow rates and strength classifications in the Master Fee Schedule. Water and sewer appear on the combined Fresno utility bill when both services are provided.

Meter and infrastructure notes

Fresno bills monthly from water-meter consumption, with 28 geographic billing cycles and meter-reading dates that do not necessarily align to calendar months. The City reports automated meter endpoints installed at every residence, allowing the Water Division to monitor usage hourly; customers can view hourly, daily, monthly, and yearly consumption in the EyeOnWater portal and set email/text leak alerts, including alerts for continuous use over a 24-hour period. The billing statement still uses the meter data for the customer’s billing period, while EyeOnWater’s calendar-month display may not exactly match the bill’s read dates. The City maintains the meter and public-side service; the property owner maintains the private side after the meter.