San Antonio Water System (SAWS)

Provider briefing

How this utility’s billing works

San Antonio Water System (SAWS) operates as a public water authority serving San Antonio and much of Bexar County. Customers should use the provider’s current account-specific bill and official customer-service instructions as the final authority for deadlines, balances, and service requests.

The published water-rate framework is described as Increasing block tiers with a monthly service-availability charge. For 2026 inside-city residential 5/8-inch meters, the water volume rates are $0.907 per 1,000 gallons through 4,000 gallons, $1.678 for the next block through 7,000 gallons, $3.039 through 12,000 gallons, $3.991 through 20,000 gallons, and $5.669 above 20,000 gallons. The service charge increases by $2 when usage exceeds 4,000 gallons. SAWS also lists a $0.102 per-1,000-gallon Uplift Assistance Program fee and separate pass-through or drought-related fees where applicable.. Bills are generated monthly; saws describes a monthly water service bill and monthly residential rate charges., and a typical residential cost reference is Approximately $41.95 at 5,000 gallons and $43.87 at 7,000 gallons for a typical inside-city 5/8-inch residential account using the published 2026 base water and sewer schedules plus the Uplift fees, before any TCEQ, Edwards Aquifer Authority, stormwater, drought, or other pass-through charges. Actual bills vary by city-limit status, meter size, winter sewer average, and applicable fees.. These descriptions are useful planning benchmarks; actual charges can change with meter size, usage, sewer averaging, local taxes, drought stages, or account-specific fees.

Wastewater and sewer calculation

For metered residential accounts, SAWS calculates sewer volume from average monthly water use over the winter averaging period, generally three consecutive billing periods beginning after November 15 and ending around March 15. The resulting average is used for sewer charges for the following service year; irrigation water used in warmer months therefore normally does not raise the sewer-volume basis. New customers without a winter record are billed using a 5,985-gallon monthly default; after the first three months, the lesser of the available three-month average or that default applies until a customer-specific winter average exists. Inside-city 2026 sewer rates are $2.539 per 1,000 gallons through 4,000 gallons and $4.444 above 4,000 gallons, plus the meter-size sewer availability charge and a $0.106-per-1,000-gallon Uplift fee.

Meter and infrastructure notes

SAWS completed the system-wide transition from mechanical meters to ConnectH2O electronic meters in 2025. The meters collect hourly readings and transmit them through a secure wireless network, allowing customers to view hourly usage through My Account or the SAWS mobile app, supporting billing and leak/high-use alerts. SAWS reports alerts when continuous use of at least five gallons per hour is detected for more than 48 consecutive hours. A specific customer-facing calendar date for each meter read is not published because the system is electronically read rather than dependent on a monthly walking-reader schedule.