Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA)

Provider briefing

How this utility’s billing works

Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA) operates as a public water authority serving Albuquerque and the Bernalillo County metropolitan service area, including contiguous territory served by the Water Authority. 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 Monthly fixed meter-size charges plus a uniform commodity charge per CCF, with a New Mexico conservation charge, a 50% low-usage discount for eligible residential usage above winter average during April–October, seasonal conservation surcharges above conservation-average thresholds, irrigation surcharges, and discretionary drought surcharges.. Bills are generated monthly. the rate ordinance requires monthly billing and permits estimated annual use divided by 12 when appropriate., and a typical residential cost reference is At approximately 5,000 gallons (6.68 CCF) for a 5/8 x 3/4-inch residential meter under the July 1, 2026 O-26-1 schedule, water is roughly $33.80 before franchise fees and sewer is roughly $25.80 when the 95% winter-average cap does not reduce the charge. A practical combined water/sewer estimate is about $60–$63 per month before any separately billed refuse charges, low-usage discount, conservation surcharge, or local franchise fee.. 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

For a 5/8 x 3/4-inch residential account, the July 1, 2026 schedule totals $12.83 in fixed monthly sewer charges plus $2.049 per CCF of wastewater commodity charge. For customers with ABCWUA water service, the sewer commodity volume is 95% of the current metered or estimated water use, or 95% of the account's average December–March winter-month usage, whichever is lower. The Authority averages the four winter months for the winter basis; customers without Authority water service are measured or assigned a statistically reasonable wastewater volume. Income-qualified homeowners may receive a sewer credit equal to the fixed sewer and rehabilitation charges.

Meter and infrastructure notes

ABCWUA bills monthly and is replacing manually read meters with automated meter reading and advanced metering infrastructure. HomeConnect allows customers with AMI-equipped meters to see hour-by-hour usage and leak indicators. The Authority's current AMI program is being phased in through multiple project phases; public planning material describes fixed radio-frequency communications, daily or more frequent reads, interval usage, tamper detection, flow profiling, and leak detection, while a 2025 Phase 9 resolution covers replacement of approximately 14,000 aging meters. The system is therefore a mixed AMR/AMI fleet during rollout rather than a claim that every account already has hourly AMI.