Erie County Water Authority (ECWA) - Amherst service area
Amherst and Erie County service territory
Population reference
92,697 people (EPA queue estimate for ECWA Amherst public water system)
Billing detail
Partial 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
- Small meters may be read and billed quarterly or monthly. The 2026 ECWA tariff gives a 9,000-gallon quarterly commodity allowance for 5/8-, 3/4-, and 1-inch meters, or a 3,000-gallon allowance for monthly billing; larger meters follow separate allowances.
- Rate structure
- Uniform commodity rate plus base-system and infrastructure-investment charges. Effective January 1, 2026, small meters use $5.57 per 1,000 gallons, with a quarterly total charge of $83.46 for a 9,000-gallon allowance ($50.13 base system fee plus $33.33 infrastructure charge), or $27.82 monthly for a 3,000-gallon allowance. Usage above the allowance is charged volumetrically; larger meters have separate schedules.
- Residential cost reference
- For a typical 5/8-, 3/4-, or 1-inch meter billed monthly and using 7,000 gallons, the 2026 tariff estimate is approximately $50.10: $27.82 monthly base/infrastructure charge plus about $22.28 for 4,000 gallons above the 3,000-gallon allowance at $5.57 per 1,000 gallons. If billed quarterly, 7,000 gallons remains within the 9,000-gallon allowance and the average monthly charge is $27.82. ECWA provides water only; sewer is normally a separate municipal or county service.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- ECWA's tariff covers potable-water service rather than municipal wastewater. There is no ECWA sewer line, winter average, or percentage tie-in in the Authority's water tariff; customers in Amherst and the surrounding territory should identify the separate sewer provider and its bill before estimating a combined utility cost.
- Meter reading
- The 2026 tariff specifies that small and large meters may be read and billed quarterly or monthly, with billing rounded to the nearest thousand gallons. It does not publicly identify whether the Amherst system uses AMI, AMR radio transmission, or manual reads for each route.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
71%
overview fields with research notes
New York
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
Partial public detail found
5 of 7 fields in this section contain provider-specific public detail in dataset August 1, 2026.
Documented
71%
Details not confirmed in the reviewed public material
- New-account deposit
- Activation or transfer fee
“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
- Erie County Water Authority (ECWA) - Amherst service area 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.