Portland Water District
Greater Portland service area
Population reference
135,068
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 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.
- Rate structure
- 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.
- Residential cost reference
- 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.
- 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 reading
- 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.
- Activation or transfer fee
- A $25 activation fee is charged on the first bill when starting service. The reviewed start/stop page does not state a separate transfer fee.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
86%
overview fields with research notes
Maine
40%
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
6 of 7 fields in this section contain provider-specific public detail in dataset August 1, 2026.
Documented
86%
Details not confirmed in the reviewed public material
- New-account deposit
“Not confirmed” means the directory did not identify a dependable public statement. It does not mean the provider has no policy or option.
Primary verification routes
- Portland Water District 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.