Portland Water District

Provider briefing

How this utility’s billing works

Portland Water District operates as a public water authority serving Greater Portland 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 Meter-size minimum plus increasing block commodity charges, with separate member/non-member and seasonal surface/deep-main schedules. Effective January 1, 2026, a standard 5/8-inch member meter has a $12.86 minimum and 100 cubic feet allowance; additional member usage is $3.21 per 100 cubic feet for the next 2,900 cubic feet, then $3.13, $2.76, and $1.59 at higher blocks. Non-member minimum is $14.80 with higher commodity rates.. Bills are generated monthly or quarterly depending on the customer’s meter/billing setup. monthly-billed accounts are billed about every 30 days; single-family residential meters are read every three months, and customers choosing monthly statements still receive the quarterly base-charge calculation divided across statements., and a typical residential cost reference is For a four-person member household using about 7,200 gallons/10 HCF per month, PWD’s 2026 water table estimates $41.75 for water. Portland wastewater is shown separately at approximately $130 for a four-person/10-HCF monthly usage example, for an illustrative Portland water-plus-sewer total of about $171.75 before other municipal charges; sewer rates vary by municipality because PWD bills local wastewater charges as collection agent.. 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

PWD bills wastewater charges for local municipalities, but each municipality sets its sewer rate. The 2026 schedule lists Portland wastewater at $13.00 minimum HCF plus $13.00 per additional HCF, while other member communities use different minimums and additional-HCF rates. Sewer is generally tied to billed water HCF, subject to each municipality’s rules; customers should verify the local sewer schedule.

Meter and infrastructure notes

PWD launched a project to replace nearly all 55,000 meters with Advanced Metering Infrastructure beginning in October 2025 and continuing for approximately three years. Single-family residential meters are read every three months, while monthly statements may divide the quarterly base calculation across statements.