City of Fort Collins – Fort Collins Utilities Water
Fort Collins Utilities water service area in Fort Collins and portions of the surrounding service territory
Population reference
Fort Collins Utilities supplies water to approximately 75% of residents and businesses inside Fort Collins; the city’s current water page reports more than 35,000 residential and commercial water accounts and about 80% of the city population in a recent utility planning summary.
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
- Monthly, generally covering a service period of approximately 28–32 days. The bill identifies the service dates, previous and present meter readings, usage, and charges for water, wastewater, stormwater, and any other city utility services on the account.
- Rate structure
- Increasing block tiers for single-family and duplex residential accounts, with a seasonal flat volume rate for multifamily and separate commercial schedules. Effective January 1, 2026, a single-family account has a $23.10 monthly base charge and water volume charges of $3.574 per 1,000 gallons for the first 7,000 gallons, $4.109 for 7,001–13,000 gallons, and $4.726 above 13,000 gallons. A duplex has a $24.37 base and thresholds of 9,000 and 13,000 gallons. Multifamily water is seasonally priced, with a $17.43 account base plus $5.81 per additional unit and volume rates of $2.535 per 1,000 gallons November–April and $3.168 May–October. Stormwater is a separate fixed formula based on lot size and impervious-surface runoff factor.
- Residential cost reference
- For 2026, the city’s published comparison gives a single-family water charge of $49.46 at 7,000 gallons per month. Using the published wastewater example of $38.24 at a 3,300-gallon winter-quarter average and the stormwater example of $25.97 for an 8,000-square-foot lot with light runoff, the combined water/wastewater/stormwater portion is approximately $113.67 before electricity and other services. The water-only amount at 5,000 gallons is approximately $40.97 ($23.10 base plus 5 × $3.574), but actual totals vary with meter class, WQA, lot/runoff classification, and service mix.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- Residential wastewater usage is based on the winter quarter average (WQA), the average water billed during December, January, and February, because winter indoor use more closely represents water returning to the sewer. The 2026 single-family wastewater charge is a $23.30 monthly base plus $4.528 per 1,000 gallons of WQA, with a 3,000-gallon minimum. Duplex rates are $27.13 base plus $4.074 per 1,000 gallons with a 4,000-gallon minimum; a new account without a WQA uses the published rate-class average of 4,000 gallons for single-family or 6,200 for duplex. The WQA is calculated each April and applies through the following April.
- Meter reading
- Fort Collins completed an Advanced Meter Fort Collins deployment that upgraded most water meters and uses a remote read/communications system. The city maintains more than 35,000 water meters and provides MyWater usage history, monthly water reports, and continuous-consumption or leak alerts. Meter maintenance appointments typically take 20–40 minutes, with water off for about 15–20 minutes; Utilities maintains the meter, reading device, wiring, and accuracy testing. The public pages do not promise a specific hourly transmission cadence for every meter, so customers should treat MyWater’s displayed data and alert settings as the current operational record rather than assume every device reports hourly.
- New-account deposit
- The current Fort Collins public payment and service-charge pages do not publish a universal residential water security-deposit amount, a credit-check waiver, or a deposit-return schedule. New customers are directed to call 970-212-2900 to start service, and unusual commercial, owner, or prior-debt circumstances should be confirmed directly with Customer Service. The published $19.65 service-connection charge is an activation/administrative charge, not a refundable deposit.
- Activation or transfer fee
- The 2026 schedule lists a $19.65 service-connection fee for an account with one or more metered or unmetered services. A customer-initiated rate change after 90 days of new service is also $19.65, and a property owner who elects automatic reversion of service between tenants is charged $10.00 each time the account reverts for one day or more. Tenants moving within the service area must stop service at the old address and start service at the new address, which creates a new account number; the city advises allowing up to three business days for normal processing. No separate routine transfer fee is published beyond the applicable service request charges.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
100%
overview fields with research notes
Colorado
68%
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
- City of Fort Collins – Fort Collins Utilities Water public website ↗
Provider-controlled destination used to confirm current customer instructions.
- EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System ↗
Federal background on public water-system records and their limitations.