Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC Water)

Provider briefing

How this utility’s billing works

Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC Water) operates as a public water authority serving Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, Maryland. 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 Four-tier inclining block structure based on Average Daily Consumption (ADC) for the total customer unit during the billing period. FY27 rates effective July 1, 2026 are per 1,000 gallons: 0–80.9999 gallons/day, water $7.68 and sewer $10.22; 81–165.9999, $8.68 and $11.34; 166–275.9999, $9.99 and $14.25; 276 gallons/day and greater, $11.70 and $18.82. Bills also include fixed Ready-to-Serve charges, the Maryland Bay Restoration Fund fee, and other property-specific charges such as the Front Foot Benefit Charge where applicable.. Bills are generated quarterly for most customers, with bills calculated in thousand-gallon increments over the billing period. wssc also supports monthly billing, including a current ami pilot in which selected quarterly customers switch to approximately 26–34-day monthly billing after the final extended quarterly bill. fees are prorated by exact days in the billing period., and a typical residential cost reference is For a typical 5/8-inch residential account billed quarterly and using 5,000–7,000 gallons per month, the FY27 consumption falls around 166–233 gallons/day and is primarily in tier 3. A practical estimate is approximately $146–$194 per month before any Front Foot Benefit Charge, taxes or special account charges: this combines FY27 water and sewer usage, the $34.58 quarterly Account Maintenance Fee, the $23.80 quarterly 5/8-inch Infrastructure Investment Fee, and an approximately $14.78 quarterly Bay Restoration Fund charge. Monthly AMI-pilot bills use the same rates and prorate fixed charges by days.. 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

WSSC calculates both water and sewer usage from the same meter reading: current register reading minus the prior reading gives gallons used, and the billing period’s total gallons divided by its number of days produces ADC. The sewer charge is then applied per 1,000 gallons using the same four ADC tiers but different sewer prices. The state Bay Restoration Fund fee is collected on each bill period and remitted to the Maryland Department of the Environment; CAP-approved customers are exempt. WSSC does not use a universal winter-average sewer formula, although it may estimate a bill when weather, access, route assignment, or staffing prevents an actual reading and later true-up the actual usage.

Meter and infrastructure notes

WSSC’s standard system bills quarterly or monthly from physical meter readings, with actual usage calculated as current minus prior register reading. Winter conditions, inaccessible meters, route assignments, and staffing can require an estimated bill based on comparable prior usage, followed by a true-up when an actual reading is obtained. Approximately 6% of meters have drive-by Automated Meter Reading equipment, transmitting by RF to a vehicle roughly every four to six seconds as the vehicle passes. A 2026–spring 2027 AMI pilot covers approximately 2,000 residential customers and 365 public-school sites. Pilot equipment uses Badger Meter technology with an ORION cellular endpoint, transmits up to four times per weekday and once per weekend day, and feeds daily usage/leak alerts to EyeOnWater; selected quarterly customers shift to 26–34-day monthly billing. Full-system AMI deployment remains subject to future Commission approval.