East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) – Water and Wastewater Systems

Provider briefing

How this utility’s billing works

East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) – Water and Wastewater Systems operates as a public water authority serving Oakland and the East Bay service territory in Alameda and Contra Costa counties; EBMUD wastewater service covers Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Kensington, Oakland, Piedmont, and parts of Richmond. 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 plus a meter-size service charge, elevation surcharge where applicable, and any active drought surcharge. Effective July 1, 2026, a typical 5/8- or 3/4-inch meter has a $28.60 monthly or $57.20 bimonthly water service charge. Single-family residential water flow is $8.40 per unit for the first 7 units/month, $9.74 for use over 7 through 16 units/month, and $11.49 above 16 units/month; bimonthly thresholds are 14 and 32 units. One unit is 748 gallons or 100 cubic feet. The July 1, 2026 schedule also lists $1.33 per unit for elevation band 2 and $2.84 per unit for elevation band 3, and drought-surcharge rates can be activated under the District’s separate schedule.. Bills are generated generally bimonthly: ebmud’s 2026 rate schedule says customer accounts are generally subject to bimonthly meter readings and bimonthly billing, although some accounts may be placed on monthly reading and billing schedules., and a typical residential cost reference is Approximately $120–$151 per month for a typical single-family 5/8- or 3/4-inch account using 5,000–7,000 gallons per month, where the property receives EBMUD wastewater service and is in elevation band 1. The water portion is about $84.75 at 5,000 gallons and $110.37 at 7,000 gallons using the July 1, 2026 service charge and tier rates. The corresponding EBMUD single-family wastewater charge is about $35.70 at 5,000 gallons and capped at $40.25 at 7,000 gallons, before any local-agency sewer charges, wet-weather facilities charge, elevation surcharge, drought surcharge, taxes, or other account-specific items. Properties outside the EBMUD wastewater area generally will not have this EBMUD treatment charge and may instead receive a separate local sewer bill.. 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

EBMUD wastewater service is available only in the listed East Bay treatment area and is not identical to the water-service footprint. For a single-family account, the FY2027 wastewater bill combines a $10.94 monthly service charge, a $0.20 monthly San Francisco Bay residential pollution-prevention fee, an $11.38 residential strength charge, and a $1.97 flow charge for each wastewater unit up to a maximum of 9 units/month, producing a maximum monthly EBMUD single-family charge of $40.25. One flow unit is 748 gallons/100 cubic feet. The wastewater flow component is based on metered water use; EBMUD does not publish a universal winter-average formula for these single-family charges. A property’s bill may also include an annual wet-weather facilities charge collected on the property-tax bill, while sewer charges imposed by another local agency may appear separately or not at all.

Meter and infrastructure notes

EBMUD’s 2026 rate schedule generally uses bimonthly meter readings and bimonthly billing, with some monthly accounts. The utility’s public meter guide describes conventional meters under curbside cement covers, cubic-foot dials, manual readings, and billing in 100-cubic-foot units of 748 gallons; the high-bill guide says most customers are read manually every other month. EBMUD offers an optional Flowmeter Rebate Program with near-real-time, minute-by-minute usage and leak alerts, but that customer device is separate from the ordinary billing meter and does not establish that the entire service area has universal AMI. Customers can set account leak alerts and view usage through the EBMUD online account/My Water Report tools.