Customer Newsletter, Summer 2024

How to read your bill

Two sets of changes took effect on July 1. If you are a single-family customer, use this guide to better understand your bill. More information is available at portland.gov/water/know-your-bill.

Change 1: Rate increases

Starting July 1, customers will see a combined increase in water, sewer, and stormwater rates of 6.24 percent. For most customers, July 1 falls partway through their billing cycle. So you may see some days charged at the old rate and some charged at the new rate.  

Example of bill showing rate changeover

 Note: The “old rate” and “new rate” labels appear only on the changeover bill.

This customer used 15 CCF (hundred cubic feet) of water during the 87 days of their quarterly bill.  <See ①> 50 of the 87 days were charged at the old rate, and 37 days were charged at the new rate. Single-family customers will see a decrease in sewer rates ② because of a shift in charging more for stormwater but less for sewer.

Change 2: Stormwater charges

Starting July 1, Environmental Services is updating the way we calculate charges for stormwater service to reflect your specific property characteristics and to align our billing practices with similar utilities across the country.

Old way to bill for stormwater  This is the last time you’ll see on-site and off-site stormwater charges on your bill.	New way to bill for stormwater The new rate structure uses a combination of stormwater billable area and stormwater service units.

Stormwater billable area is the property’s developed area and includes areas like rooftops, pavers, patios, and driveways. Single-family residential properties will be placed into the small, standard, or large category based on the property’s amount of stormwater billable area.

On your bill, find your property’s category here ③.

Stormwater service units refer to the number of dwelling units on the property. Customers with one house will be charged for one stormwater service unit.

On the bill, “single” ④stands for single-family residential, the category that determines the method used to calculate the property’s service units. You can find the number of service units your property is being charged for here ⑤. 

• Drainage District customers will see additional changes. Learn more at portland.gov/bes/drainage-district-rates.
• For customers enrolled in Clean River Rewards, your discount will not change, but your bill will look different. Learn more about Clean River Rewards at portland.gov/clean-river-rewards.
• Find information about how stormwater changes impact multifamily, commercial, industrial, or non-residential customers at portland.gov/bes/rate-change. 

Where does the money from my payment go?

Water systems are complex. Just bringing drinking water to each home’s taps requires more than 2,200 miles of pipe beneath the ground. Managing stormwater and wastewater requires another 2,500 miles of pipe, thousands of green streets, nearly 100 pump stations, two treatment plants, and many acres of wetlands and waterways.

Behind all that infrastructure are over 1,300 dedicated employees working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year round to make sure that our city’s water utilities are safe, reliable, and always fully operational.

• 25% goes to providing drinking water, including water treatment, water source protection, pipes, tanks, and hydrants.
• 33.6% pays for the sewer and wastewater treatment system, including the pipes, pumps, and wastewater treatment facilities.
• 25.9% supports the stormwater system, which manages water runoff from hard surfaces like streets, roofs, and parking lots; prevents pollution; and mitigates flooding.
• 15.1% represents the base charge, which allows us to provide customer service, bill accounts, and read water meters.
• 0.5% goes to the Portland Harbor Superfund, which contributes to the cleanup of the Portland Harbor area in the Willamette River.

Numbers are rounded for clarity.

Learn more: portland.gov/water/know-your-bill

How much water does your garden need?

Get week-by-week watering information for your zip code. Sign up for a weekly text or email: regionalh2o.org/weekly-watering-number

Save water and money with rebates

• Outdoor rebates. A new irrigation controller or efficient sprinkler nozzles may be your key to smarter summer watering. The Water Bureau offers rebates for WaterSense-labeled controllers and multistream rotating nozzles.  
• Toilet rebates. Replace an old toilet with a WaterSense-labeled toilet and get a $50 rebate.   
• Ice machine rebates. Does your business use a water-cooled ice machine? Replace it with an ENERGY STAR-certified, air-cooled model and save up to $3,000 (50% of the cost).  

Apply online: portland.gov/water/efficiency 

The City of Portland is committed to providing meaningful access. To request translation, interpretation, modifications, accommodations, or other auxiliary aids or services, contact 503-823-7770, Relay: 711, or pwbcustomerservice@portlandoregon.gov.

Traducción e Interpretación  |  Biên Dịch và Thông Dịch  |  口笔译服务  |  अनुवादन तथा व्याख्या  |  Устный и письменный перевод  |  Turjumaad iyo Fasiraad  |  Письмовий і усний переклад  |  Traducere și interpretariat  |  Chiaku me Awewen Kapas 

Translation and Interpretation:   503-823-7770  |  portland.gov/water/access