Milwaukee Water Works
Milwaukee, Greenfield, Hales Corners, St. Francis, and West Milwaukee
Population reference
Nearly 600,000 residents in the City of Milwaukee, with Milwaukee Water Works also providing retail water and billing services for Greenfield, Hales Corners, St. Francis, and West Milwaukee and wholesale water to additional southeastern Wisconsin municipalities.
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
- Residential and smaller commercial customers are generally billed quarterly; most commercial and industrial accounts are billed monthly. The City of Milwaukee 2026 residential schedule is explicitly quarterly, while retail communities and commercial meter classes can have different billing periods.
- Rate structure
- Uniform residential volumetric water pricing plus a fixed meter-size water-service charge and a fixed public-fire-protection fee. For City of Milwaukee residential 5/8-inch or 3/4-inch meters, the 2026 document lists a $21.22 quarterly water service charge, $9.00 quarterly fire-protection fee, and $30.22 combined fixed water charges. Milwaukee residential consumption is $2.53 per Ccf (748 gallons); commercial customers use declining blocks. Retail communities have their own fixed and volumetric schedules.
- Residential cost reference
- For a Milwaukee 5/8-inch or 3/4-inch residential account using 5,000-7,000 gallons per month, quarterly consumption is approximately 20.1-28.1 Ccf and the water-volume component is approximately $51-$71 per quarter at $2.53/Ccf. Adding the $30.22 quarterly fixed water/fire charges, MMSD treatment, local sewer, stormwater, solid-waste, street-lighting, and other municipal charges produces a practical combined municipal-service bill commonly well above the water-only amount; the precise 2026 total depends on the winter-quarter sewer basis and property charges.
- Wastewater and sewer calculation
- The municipal services bill combines Milwaukee Water Works water charges, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District treatment, and City local sewer charges. MMSD treatment is $2.27/Ccf and has a $23.83 quarterly residential 5/8-inch or 3/4-inch fixed charge. Residential MMSD and local sewer volume are based on the first calendar-quarter winter water use; if a later quarter's actual use is lower than the winter amount, the bill uses actual use or a 21-Ccf floor for MMSD treatment. The local sewer charge is $1.85/Ccf and follows the same winter-quarter method. Commercial accounts are generally billed on each period's water volume, subject to approved high-volume/non-returned-water treatment.
- Meter reading
- Milwaukee Water Works uses Automated Meter Reading: a radio device on the meter transmits usage to a receiver in a vehicle passing the property, which transfers the data to the billing/troubleshooting database. Bills are based on actual readings rather than estimates when the AMR responds, and the 2026 bill identifies automatic meter reads separately from estimated or final reads. Residential meters are normally read on a quarterly cycle; commercial accounts are often monthly. Customers can view meter readings, usage, billing, and payment history through the account portal, and a requested interim reading is $35.
- New-account deposit
- Milwaukee follows Wisconsin residential-deposit protections. A new residential customer may generally be required to post a deposit only for an undisputed Wisconsin utility debt from the prior six years; a current customer may also face a deposit after a recent shutoff or falsified application. The utility may accept a satisfactory guarantor instead of a cash deposit. Residential deposits are returned with interest after 12 consecutive months of prompt payment. The current Milwaukee customer pages do not publish a universal flat residential startup-deposit amount.
- Activation or transfer fee
- The current residential customer pages do not publish a universal account-establishment or name-transfer fee. An interim meter reading requested by a customer for a closing or tenancy change is $35, and a final bill request requiring a utility meter read is $40. Customers should contact Milwaukee Water Works at (414) 286-2830 to arrange a move-in, move-out, buyer information update, or account transfer and confirm any property-specific field charge.
Context, not a score
How documentation coverage compares
This profile
100%
overview fields with research notes
Wisconsin
41%
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
- Milwaukee Water Works 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.