City of Salem Public Works - Utility Billing
Salem and surrounding City utility service area
Population reference
199,820 people (EPA SDWIS active CWS PWS OR4100731)
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; Salem's water volume, base, wastewater, stormwater, streetlight, franchise, and operations charges are presented as monthly account charges.
- Rate structure
- Monthly base fee by meter size plus a uniform single-family residential volume rate. Effective January 1, 2026 inside the City, the 5/8-3/4-inch base is $14.09 and the residential water volume rate is $3.30 per ccf, where one ccf equals 748 gallons. Additional wastewater, stormwater, streetlight, franchise, and operations charges are billed separately.
- Residential cost reference
- For a 5/8-3/4-inch account using approximately 5,000 gallons (about 6.68 ccf), the 2026 water component is approximately $36.13 before wastewater and other charges ($14.09 base plus about $22.04 volume). Salem's residential wastewater base is $20.07 plus $4.47 per ccf of annualized wastewater volume, and the bill estimator should be used for the total.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- For most customers wastewater is not metered separately. Salem annually averages two to four measurable water readings from periods including November 1 and after, when irrigation and outdoor use are expected to be lower, and uses that wastewater volume every month even when current water consumption changes. New accounts use a prior same-classification Salem account or the City average; after two full billing cycles, customers with a City-average assignment may request a review and receive a retroactive credit if actual usage is lower.
- Meter reading
- Salem's rate documentation states that base fees support meter reading, maintenance, monitoring, and infrastructure, while wastewater calculations rely on two to four measurable readings including November 1 and after. The reviewed pages did not identify a universal AMI/AMR vendor or exact transmission interval.
- Activation or transfer fee
- $25 new-account activation fee; the published schedule also lists $25 for suspended-account activation. A separate transfer/name-change fee was not exposed.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
86%
overview fields with research notes
Oregon
42%
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
- City of Salem Public Works - Utility Billing public website ↗
Provider-controlled destination used to confirm current customer instructions.
- EPA SDWIS / ECHO lookup (OR4100731) ↗
Search the federal drinking-water database using public water system ID OR4100731.