Lee County Utilities – Water, Wastewater and Reclaimed Water
Unincorporated Lee County service areas outside Cape Coral, Fort Myers city limits, Lehigh Acres, Naples, Bonita Springs, Sanibel/Captiva, and Gateway
Population reference
Approximately 400,000 customers/residents across Lee County Utilities’ service area, excluding municipalities and communities that maintain separate utility systems. The County operates a large regional water, wastewater, reclaimed-water, and wellfield network.
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. Lee County Utilities generates and distributes invoices monthly, reads each metered service location once per month, and bills by cycle, route, and sequence.
- Rate structure
- Increasing block conservation rate structure with fixed administrative/base charges, four residential usage blocks, and a wellfield conservation surcharge after the initial block. For the July 1, 2026 schedule, single-family water rates are $4.45 per 1,000 gallons for 0–6,000, $5.56 for 6,001–12,000, $6.68 for 12,001–18,000, and $8.90 above 18,000. The residential water base is $12.44 plus a $4.68 administrative charge per bill; the wellfield surcharge is $0.68 per ERU when the first block is exceeded.
- Residential cost reference
- For a typical single-family account using 5,000 gallons in the July 2026 schedule, the published components are approximately $4.68 administrative charge + $12.44 water base + $21.00 water usage + $4.32 sewer administration + $21.44 sewer base + $36.85 sewer usage = about $106.73 per month before reclaimed water, special surcharges, taxes, or account-specific fees. Wastewater usage above 10,000 gallons per residential living unit is not billed the metered wastewater user charge.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- Residential wastewater is billed from monthly metered water consumption, with a July 2026 single-family sewer base of $21.44 plus $7.37 per 1,000 gallons. Lee County does not charge the residential wastewater user component for metered water use above 10,000 gallons per living unit; unmetered accounts use the approved unmetered user charge. The County also provides a deduct-meter route for qualifying cooling-tower, food-production, or water-resale customers whose water does not return to the wastewater system.
- Meter reading
- LCU reads each metered location manually or electronically once per month by billing cycle, route, and sequence. If the regular reading fails, a second attempt is made; if it still cannot be obtained because of weather, inaccessibility, or equipment issues, the County estimates the bill using the prior 12 months or the comparable prior-year period and adjusts it when an actual read returns. The operations manual also recognizes AMI meters and remote disconnect capability.
- New-account deposit
- A guarantee deposit is billed for each new service address under the current BOCC rate resolution. A single-family deposit may be waived if the customer had a qualifying LCU account within the prior two years with at least 12 months of service and no delinquent disconnect/dishonored payment, provides a good-standing letter from another utility, or enrolls in both LCU monthly AutoPay and paperless billing within seven calendar days of starting service. Deposits are credited after 23 continuous months with no dishonored payment, no more than two late payments, no nonpayment disconnect, and no meter tampering; refunds generally take 2–4 weeks. Government agencies, public utilities, state colleges, and qualifying Florida nonprofits are deposit-exempt.
- Activation or transfer fee
- The current BOCC schedule sets the new-account and transfer/service fees, but the public rate pages do not expose one universal residential activation dollar amount. A transfer requires a current account, transfer request, proof of ownership/lease, and government ID; the old and new turn-on/turn-off dates must be within 14 calendar days. The County’s transfer form states that a nonrefundable transfer service charge appears on the first bill for the new meter reading and record update.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
100%
overview fields with research notes
Florida
60%
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
- Lee County Utilities – Water, Wastewater and Reclaimed 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.