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Municipal DepartmentDataset 2026.08PWS ID TX1010013
City of Houston Houston Public Works – Utility Billing
Houston and the City of Houston Public Works retail service territory
Population reference
Approximately 2,314,157 people (Texas Water Development Board FY2026 PWS population for PWS ID TX1010013; Houston Public Works currently describes Utility Billing as serving approximately 2.3 million residents)
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. Houston’s residential charge calculator is explicitly monthly, and the current rate schedule publishes monthly water and wastewater base and volume charges. The exact bill date and due date are account-specific and appear on the customer statement.
- Rate structure
- Increasing block/tiered metered rates with a fixed meter-size charge, a separate TCEQ Public Health Service Fee, and additional volume tiers. Effective April 1, 2026, a common single-family 5/8- or 3/4-inch meter has water charges of $8.23 at zero usage, $10.41 at 1,000 gallons, $12.38 at 2,000, $14.35 at 3,000, $44.82 at 4,000, $53.91 at 5,000, and $63.00 at 6,000 gallons; usage above 6,000 is charged $12.54 per 1,000 gallons through 12,000, $15.82 per 1,000 through 20,000, and $20.20 per 1,000 above 20,000. The TCEQ fee is an additional $0.21 per month for single-family residential connections, and drainage/stormwater is separate from the water-and-wastewater calculator.
- Residential cost reference
- Approximately $125–$149 per month for a typical 5/8- or 3/4-inch single-family account using 5,000–6,000 gallons, before drainage/stormwater or other account-specific charges. The April 1, 2026 schedule lists $53.91–$63.00 for water at those usage levels plus the $0.21 TCEQ fee; residential wastewater adds a $16.88 base charge, $7.77 per 1,000 gallons for the first 3,000 gallons, and $15.20 per 1,000 gallons over 3,000, producing approximately $70.59 at 5,000 gallons and $85.79 at 6,000 gallons. Actual bills can differ by meter size, customer category, drainage fees, adjustments, and account-specific service charges.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- Houston bills residential wastewater as a meter-size base charge plus a volume charge tied to billed water consumption, rather than a winter-average formula. For a 5/8- or 3/4-inch single-family meter effective April 1, 2026, the sewer base charge is $16.88; the first 3,000 gallons are charged $7.77 per 1,000 gallons, and each 1,000 gallons over the first 3,000 is charged $15.20. Thus 5,000 gallons yields a wastewater component of approximately $70.59 and 6,000 gallons approximately $85.79 before any separate drainage or adjustments. The City’s public calculator estimates water and wastewater but expressly excludes the drainage fee.
- Meter reading
- Houston historically operates an in-ground Automated Meter Reading (AMR) network. The May 2026 Houston Water Bill Improvement Plan reports that remote-reading-device replacements provide daily/hourly meter reads, usage alerts, and earlier leak detection; automated reads averaged 86% by district at the time of the update. Houston Public Works reports more than 120,000 remote reading devices installed since April 2024, more than 110,000 meter registers replaced, and a plan to install more than 240,000 additional remote reading devices over five years. The City began a March 2026 smart-meter replacement pilot using meters with no moving parts, while more than 240,000 meters remained without updated remote-reading devices; therefore the 2026 system is mixed AMR/remote-device coverage with estimates or manual reads possible when a device is inaccessible or fails, not a uniformly deployed fully two-way AMI network.
- New-account deposit
- The 2026 City fee schedule lists a general ‘deposit to assure payment’ under City Code §47-68(c)-(d) as ‘Calculation,’ not a universal residential dollar amount, so the required deposit is account-specific. The same schedule lists separate transient-meter deposits ($500 for 1-inch, $1,000 for 2-inch, and $1,500 for 3-inch) that do not represent an ordinary household account. The current public residential start-service workflow does not publish a credit-check waiver, fixed deposit multiple, or universal refund-after-on-time-payments rule; customers should obtain the account-specific deposit determination from Utility Billing before activation.
- Activation or transfer fee
- The current 2026 City-wide fee schedule lists a $6.71 fee for a change of customer at the same address under City Code §47-67. This is the published ordinary customer-change/transfer charge; new connections, meter work, deposits, and delinquency restoration can create separate fees. Houston’s official portal supports residential start or move-in service online, while account holders who need identity or ownership assistance can schedule an appointment or call 713-371-1400.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
100%
overview fields with research notes
Texas
68%
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
- City of Houston Houston Public Works – Utility Billing public website ↗
Provider-controlled destination used to confirm current customer instructions.
- EPA SDWIS / ECHO lookup (TX1010013) ↗
Search the federal drinking-water database using public water system ID TX1010013.