Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC)
City of Boston
Population reference
BWSC's official rate documentation describes approximately 90,000 active water accounts serving Boston's nearly 650,000 residents, plus a large daytime and commercial population. The utility serves the City of Boston retail water, sewer, and stormwater territory and purchases treated drinking water and wastewater transportation capacity from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.
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. BWSC transitioned from quarterly billing to monthly billing in 1993, and the current billing-system FAQ explains that the new system issues one monthly bill for multiple water services/meters at a property where applicable. Monthly bills show meter readings, consumption history, sewer-abatement information, and the due date used for delinquency calculations.
- Rate structure
- Increasing block rates based on average daily consumption, with separate water and sewer rates per 1,000 cubic feet and per 1,000 gallons, plus a monthly stormwater charge of $9.06 per Equivalent Residential Unit. For 2026, the first 19 cubic feet/day is $70.19 per 1,000 cubic feet water and $66.68 sewer; the next 20 is $74.96 water and $77.87 sewer; the next 50, next 260, next 950, and usage over 1,299 cubic feet/day carry progressively higher published rates. The schedule is implemented January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026, with no separate seasonal or drought surcharge shown on the residential table.
- Residential cost reference
- Using the 2026 BWSC rate table and approximately 5,000-7,000 gallons per month, a typical small residential account is approximately $100-$145 per month before unusual fees, account-specific meter conditions, or a different stormwater ERU allocation. The estimate reflects the two-tier-plus increasing-block water and sewer charges and the $9.06 monthly residential stormwater charge; BWSC's actual bill depends on the average daily consumption tier and service configuration.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- Sewer is calculated from the metered water consumption at the applicable average-daily-use tier. BWSC's 2026 sewer rates range from $66.68 per 1,000 cubic feet/$8.914 per 1,000 gallons in the first tier to $126.03 per 1,000 cubic feet/$16.849 per 1,000 gallons above 1,299 cubic feet/day. A customer may qualify for a sewer abatement when metered water enters the property but does not enter BWSC's sewer system; the current billing system displays the abatement meter's consumption and credit. Stormwater is a separate $9.06 per ERU monthly charge, not a percentage of sewer usage, and no standard residential winter-average formula is published.
- Meter reading
- BWSC bills monthly and uses automated meter reading, including a meter transmission unit (MTU) or remote-reading device that lets the Commission collect reads without routine interior access. A denied-access or non-transmitting meter can lead to estimated usage, a required inspection, and later manual-reading or replacement costs; the current 2026 special-fee page lists meter-transmission installation as cost basis and a 5/8-inch meter test at $490. Meter Installation and Meter Shops operate Monday-Saturday 7:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. The public billing materials do not promise hourly AMI data for every premise; the verified cadence is monthly billing with remote/AMR reads and usage history available in the CSS Portal.
- New-account deposit
- Ordinary residential account pages do not publish a routine new-customer security-deposit amount, credit-check waiver, or refund-after-on-time-payment rule. Special construction and temporary-service deposits are published: $900 for excavation, $2,500 for fire-pipe excavation, and $750 for temporary or hydrant connections, with the hydrant deposit generally refundable after return less usage or damage. A customer starting ordinary service should call BWSC Customer Service at 617-989-7800 for account-specific ownership, occupancy, meter, and any required security information.
- Activation or transfer fee
- BWSC's current public pages do not list a universal residential account activation or name-transfer fee. Customers establish or change service by contacting Customer Service at 617-989-7800 and providing the current account and occupancy information. A requested service turn-on is listed at $40, while a water/sewer pipe inspection for a connection or disconnection is $400 during regular Monday-Saturday hours, $470 overtime, or $530 on Sundays/holidays; those inspection charges are not automatically the fee for an ordinary billing-account transfer.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
100%
overview fields with research notes
Massachusetts
35%
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
- Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) 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.