Understanding Your Bill

The average of the customer’s water use during the most recent December, January, and February billing periods. The average winter consumption is used to calculate water and sewer service charges.

Customers move through the blocks based on their average winter consumption. This rate structure encourages conservation, because the unit price of water increases with water use.

Water is measured in CCF (hundred cubic foot) units. One CCF equals 748 gallons.

Effective March 1, 2020, the City of El Paso is increasing the yearly franchise fee charged to El Paso Water to $6.55 million. The City has the authority to implement or make changes to the franchise fee, which is set so the City can recover costs of utility use of city streets and rights-of-way.

El Paso Water will continue billing customers for the franchise fee on their monthly bill based on their meter size, and send payment to the City of El Paso. Customers will see a slight increase on the franchise fee line item on their bill, from $0.77 to $1.24 for the typical residential customer.

El Paso Water provides billing and collection services ONLY for the El Paso's Environmental Services Department (ESD), which provides solid waste collection and curbside recycling. Customers are financially responsible to pay the El Paso Water and ESD charges in full to remain in good standing. To discuss service or billing issues related to Environmental Services, call 915-212-6000.

The ServLine® Water Leak Protection Program will help EPWater customers with high water bills that result from qualifying leaks. Customers are automatically enrolled for a fee of $0.98 for residential customers per month and $1.42 for non-residential single occupancy customers per month. For more information or to opt out, click here.

This fixed charge pays for meter reading, billing, collecting and costs related to other Customer Service functions. For residential customers, the minimum charge includes 5 CCFs of water.

Sewer service charges are set annually by calculating 90 percent of the average winter consumption of water. Each customer pays a fixed minimum charge, and usage not included in the minimum charge is billed as sewer use. For residential customers, the sewer minimum charge includes 5 CCFs of use.

All sewer usage not included in the sewer minimum charge is billed as sewer use.

This fixed fee is based on a property’s impervious area – the area that cannot be penetrated by rain and, as a result, causes rain runoff. El Paso Central Appraisal District data is used to place residential properties into one of three categories. The stormwater fee for non-residential properties is calculated based on impervious square footage.

The funds from this fixed charge are used for future water projects, including importation projects, acquiring water rights, and building or expanding water treatment plants. To help low-volume users, El Paso Water does not bill the water supply replacement charge to customers in months when water use is less than 4 CCFs.