McAllen Public Utility (MPU) Customer Relations and Utility Billing

Provider briefing

How this utility’s billing works

McAllen Public Utility (MPU) Customer Relations and Utility Billing operates as a public water authority serving City of McAllen and McAllen Public Utility service area, including the City's water, wastewater, sprinkler, reclaimed-water, sanitation, and drainage billing accounts. 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 effective October 1, 2025. Residential water has an $18.00 monthly base fee, then $2.25 per 1,000 gallons for 0–4,999 gallons, $2.55 for 5,000–9,999, $2.75 for 10,000–14,999, and $2.95 for 15,000 gallons and above. Residential sewer has a $17.00 base fee, $1.85 per 1,000 gallons through 19,999 gallons, and $2.40 per 1,000 gallons over 20,000. Separate sprinkler and reclaimed-water schedules apply.. Bills are generated monthly cycle-based billing. mpu reads meters and bills customers according to assigned geographic cycles; the statement shows the billing date, service-period dates, current read, previous read, days of service, usage, due date, current balance, and any past-due balance. due dates vary by cycle and cannot be changed by the customer., and a typical residential cost reference is At 5,000 gallons for a standard residential account, the water charge is approximately $29.25 ($18 base plus the first 4,999 gallons at $2.25 and the marginal 5,000th gallon at $2.55) and the sewer charge is approximately $26.25 ($17 base plus 5,000 gallons at $1.85), for a water-and-sewer subtotal of about $55.50 before sanitation, recycling, brush, drainage, sprinkler, or other account charges. At 7,000 gallons, water is approximately $34.35 and sewer approximately $29.95, for about $64.30 before those additional line items. Actual bills also include the flat sanitation and applicable recycle, brush, and drainage fees shown on the statement.. 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

Residential sewer is tied directly to metered water consumption rather than a published winter average. The current schedule charges a $17.00 base fee, $1.85 per 1,000 gallons of water through 19,999 gallons, and $2.40 per 1,000 gallons above 20,000. The Utility Billing page states that sewer commodity is based on water usage and that the bill separately identifies sanitation, recycling, brush, and drainage charges.

Meter and infrastructure notes

McAllen reads traditional meters by physical digits and is transitioning from onsite mechanical reads to remote smart meters. Current MPU FAQ material states that smart meters communicate through a Regional Network Interface combined with Advanced Metering Infrastructure, do not require a site visit for each reading, can detect leaks, and provide online water-usage access. Mechanical meters one inch or smaller require five digits; larger mechanical meters require six, while digital/LED registers require eight. Bills remain organized by assigned cycle, and MPU does not publish a universal hourly-read interval for every account during the phased transition.