Understanding Your Bill

Ready to Serve - Water is the Monthly Water Service Charge that covers the fixed costs of maintaining the treatment plants, pumping stations, and underground pipes. These charges are billed even if no water is used. Click the blue icon to view a list of current rates.

Water Usage is the Water Quantity Charge calculated as the difference between the previous meter reading and the most recent meter reading. Click the blue icon to view a list of current rates.

A $1.00 per month Safe Drinking Water Fee is assessed for every meter servicing drinking water in the State of Louisiana. The Louisiana Legislature on April 19, 2000 authorized the Safe Drinking Water Fee for the benefit of the Department of Health (DHH) to perform all inspections, tests or procedures of public water supplies to comply with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

Ready to Serve - Sewer is the Monthly Sewer Service Charge that covers the fixed costs of maintaining the treatment plants, pumping stations, and underground pipes. These charges are billed even if no water is used. Click the blue icon to view a list of current rates.

Sewer Volume Charge Charge is based on the Water Quantity Charge for the same billing period. All Residential and Public Housing Class quantity charges are applied to 85 percent of the metered water consumption, allowing 15 percent of water use for lawn watering and other uses that contribute no flow to the sanitary sewer. Quantity charges for Commercial and Industrial Classes of customers are based on 100% of metered water consumption. Click the blue icon to view a list of current rates.

Sanitation Charges are collected on behalf of the City of New Orleans for garbage and recycling pickup. The sanitation rate is multiplied times the number of living units served by each water meter. Click the blue icon to view a list of current rates.

City Sales Tax is 2 1/2% of water charges.

The first six digits of the Account Number is the location number that is unique to that service address. The second six digits is the customer number which should be the same across all accounts owned by the same customer.

The Sewerage and Water Board charges a 10% Late Fee for the unpaid water and sewer balance remaining after the bill due date, and 15% of the unpaid sanitation charges remaining after the bill due date.

Reading is the numbers read off the dial of your water meter. To determine how many gallons of water have passed through your meter since it was installed multiply the difference between your previous reading and your current reading by 1,000.

Read Type indicates if your meter reading was an Actual reading of your meter's dials, or if it was an Estimate of your water usage since your last bill, because we were not able to read your meter this month.

Usage is your water usage for this billing period. To determine how many gallons of water have passed through your meter since the last reading, multiply your current month's usage by 1,000.

Use this graph to monitor your water usage from month to month. The current month is on the far left.

Look here for important messages specific to your account, your street, or your community.

You may pay your Sewerage and Water Bill using any of these convenient methods, or you may visit one of our customer service centers. Click the blue icon to view a list of payment locations.

To change your mailing address or contact information, check here and fill out the Change of Mailing Address Form on the back of your bill.

When a customer receives an actual read bill immediately following an estimated read bill and consumption units fell into different tiers, the actual-read bill will be adjusted for any difference by spreading the consumption units over both bills resulting in a credit or charge that reflects the true usage over the two bills. The first bill is never modified since it was already posted and the adjustment for estimate is credited on the second bill.