Providence Water Supply Board
Providence, North Providence, Cranston, Johnston, and East Smithfield, plus seven wholesale communities including Warwick, East Providence, Lincoln, Bristol, Kent County, Greenville, and Smithfield
Population reference
Approximately 600,000 people, or about 60% of Rhode Island, through roughly 80,000 retail service connections and seven wholesale communities.
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
- Monthly. Providence Water moved retail customers to monthly billing and the current rate page presents monthly service charges and monthly consumption examples. Bills carry a current-activity due date, which is shown on each invoice.
- Rate structure
- Uniform residential volumetric rate per hundred cubic feet, plus fixed meter service charges and state or district surcharges rather than increasing usage blocks. The current 2026 public rate page lists $3.993 per HCF for residential water, where one HCF is approximately 748 gallons, a $0.21842 per-HCF state surcharge, and a $12.42 monthly 5/8-inch service charge. Providence residents also have a $4.14 monthly 5/8-inch fire-protection service charge; Johnston and East Smithfield can have additional district charges.
- Residential cost reference
- For a 5/8-inch residential account using 5,000 gallons per month, 5,000 gallons is about 6.68 HCF. The current base calculation is approximately $26.67 water usage plus $1.46 state surcharge plus $12.42 monthly service charge, or $40.55 before the Providence fire-protection charge, district surcharges, taxes, or wastewater billed by another provider. For a Providence city resident, adding the $4.14 fire-protection charge yields approximately $44.69 per month before other adjustments.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- Providence Water is a drinking-water and wholesale supplier; it does not publish one universal residential sewer tariff in the reviewed current materials. Wastewater is generally billed by the local city or sewer authority, and Providence Water’s 2023–2024 reports describe Rhode Island LIHWAP assistance as applicable to water or wastewater accounts. Customers should consult the separate sewer statement or municipality for any metered, flat, or winter-average wastewater calculation; a universal Providence Water sewer tie-in is not published.
- Meter reading
- Providence Water uses automatic meter-reading equipment that historically provides drive-by reads for approximately 99.8% of customers, allowing actual rather than estimated monthly billing. Current 2026 bills display meter details, read dates, prior/current reads, and a usage-history graph. The reviewed public pages do not identify one AMR/AMI vendor or an hourly transmission interval; customers can request meter appointments and report meter leaks through the customer-service directory.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
71%
overview fields with research notes
Rhode Island
29%
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
- Providence Water Supply Board 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.