Rate Changes

The majority of costs to operate the City’s water system and deliver safe, reliable drinking water are fixed costs that do not change based on water supply availability. Regardless of how much it has rained in the past year, the City must operate and maintain over 320 miles of water mains, treat 10.2 millions of gallons of water a day, conduct over 1000 water quality tests a month, and invest in important capital projects to keep the water system running smoothly instead of waiting to make unplanned and costly emergency repairs. Like all other goods and services, the physical materials the City needs to run the water system, such as water main pipe materials, has drastically increased over recent years.  

Additionally, remember that your City utility bill is much more than just your water bill! For most residents, your City utility bill can be up to three utility bills in one. All City utilities—water, sewer, and trash and recycling—are billed under one bill. The second page of your bill breaks down all your charges by utility service.

For a typical single family customer with water, sewer, and trash and recycling service with average water usage and the most common level or trash and recycling service, the total utility bill will increase by about $6, or 2.4%. See the below chart for a breakdown in the change in cost.

UUT = Utility Users Tax, a 6% tax assessed on various utility services within the City, including water service.

The City makes every effort to keep our rates as low as possible for our customers while still providing sufficient revenue to operate and maintain the water system.

In 2020, Santa Barbara entered into a water sales agreement with the Montecito Water District for the long-term wholesale supply of water made available from the Charles E. Meyer Desalination Plant. This agreement helped to offset costs and keep rates lower for Santa Barbara customers. Without this agreement, the City would have needed to consider increasing rates above what has been adopted, reduce planned capital investments in aging infrastructure, or use a combination of these actions. Continuous deferral of capital funding would have led to underinvestment in the water system and higher maintenance costs in the future.

The City has also implemented a grant strategy that involves identifying, tracking, pre-positioning and pursuing all grants for which the water utility is eligible.

We continue to offer customer assistance programs including payment plans, utility tax waivers, low-income household water assistance, and leak relief. For more information on our customer assistance programs, please get in touch with our Utility Billing team.

The City’s Water Conservation program also offers rebates to help you save water and money.

Both the City’s water and wastewater rates are in line with neighboring agencies for single family residential customers with average water usage (9HCF). See the charts below to compare typical water and sewer charges with neighboring agencies.

You will see the new FY24 rates on your first bill where the service period is July 1, 2023 or later. These bills will be sent to customers beginning September 2023.

Measure C was approved by voters in 2017 and provides sales tax funding for maintaining and replacing public buildings and street-related infrastructure. Measure C does not currently provide funding for water or wastewater system infrastructure. The water and wastewater utilities are primarily funded from customer fees and rates and do not receive appropriations from any general tax revenues.