Denver Water

Provider briefing

How this utility’s billing works

Denver Water operates as a public water authority serving Denver and surrounding suburban distributor districts across the Denver metropolitan area, including Denver Water’s inside-city, total-service, and read-and-bill territories. 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 based on individualized average winter consumption, plus a monthly fixed meter charge. For 2026 inside-city single-family customers, the 5/8- or 3/4-inch fixed charge is $20.91; Tier 1 is $3.02 per 1,000 gallons up to the customer’s average-winter threshold, Tier 2 is $5.44 per 1,000 gallons for the next 15,000 gallons, and Tier 3 is $7.25 above that. The Tier 1 minimum is 5,000 gallons and maximum is 15,000 gallons. Temporary Stage 1 drought pricing beginning with May 2026 use adds $1.10 per 1,000 gallons to Tier 2 and $2.20 to Tier 3, while essential Tier 1 use is exempt. Suburban read-and-bill and total-service districts use their own 2026 volume rates.. Bills are generated monthly for ordinary residential accounts. denver water’s operating rules also permit bimonthly or other billing arrangements for certain distributor, master-meter, or contractual accounts, but the standard residential account is billed monthly and the due date appears on each statement., and a typical residential cost reference is For an inside-city 5/8- or 3/4-inch single-family account whose 5,000 to 7,000 gallons remain in Tier 1, the 2026 Denver Water charge is approximately $36.01 to $42.05 per month ($20.91 fixed charge plus $3.02 per 1,000 gallons), before any separate wastewater bill. A typical outside-city total-service account at the published Tier 1 rate of $4.37 is approximately $42.76 to $51.50 including the same fixed charge. Actual bills depend on the individualized average-winter allotment, district type, meter size, drought-tier use, and whether a local distributor adds a charge.. 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

Denver Water is primarily the drinking-water billing utility. For customers inside the City and County of Denver, sanitary sewage is provided by the City’s Wastewater Management Division within the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, with rates established by city ordinance; suburban customers may receive wastewater service and a separate bill from their local sewer entity or distributor. Denver Water’s water bill therefore cannot be treated as a universal combined water-and-sewer charge. Where an outside-city sewer entity requests a water shutoff for nonpayment of its sewer bill, Denver Water’s rules allow a sewer turn-off, so customers should identify which agency issued each charge.

Meter and infrastructure notes

Denver Water’s standard system uses customer water meters with automatic meter-reading devices, while its Advanced Metering Infrastructure program is upgrading select meters with a device that collects frequent consumption readings and transmits them to the EyeOnWater service. AMI customers can review daily use by day, week, or month and receive unusual-consumption leak notifications; the program is not yet described as universal across the entire 1.5-million-person service area. Denver Water’s operating rules state that the physical meter register controls if it differs from the AMR device, and an inaccurate meter may be estimated, removed, and tested. Billing is normally monthly, with the statement showing the read date and consumption history.