Proposition 218: Notice for Proposed Water & Sewer Rates

Your Dollars at Work

Water and sewer systems are critical to public health. The SFPUC is committed to providing customers with safe, reliable, and affordable drinking water and a sewer system that protects public health and the environment. These systems require ongoing maintenance and upgrades. Many parts of the SFPUC water system are nearly 100 years old, and the oldest parts of the sewer system date back to the Gold Rush. We need to continue to maintain and upgrade aging systems to prevent breaks, meet stricter regulations, ensure reliable service, improve seismic safety, and protect the environment.

Your Rates Pay For:

• 24/7 Operations
• Routine Maintenance and Emergency Repairs
• Infrastructure Improvements
• Conveyance and Treatment
• Environmental Monitoring
• Watershed and Land Management
• Community Programs

Ways to Save

The SFPUC offers a variety of rebates, programs, and incentives to help customers lower their bill. Learn more on how to save on your utility bill.

Our Public Rate Setting Process

The SFPUC is committed to a transparent public rate setting process guided by the principles set forth in our Ratepayer Assurance Policy. As required by the San Francisco Charter, an independent rate consultant has completed a cost-of-service study. The rates study findings provide the basis for our rate proposal, which goes through an extensive public approval process. That process includes the Rate Fairness Board, comprising SFPUC customers and other appointees. The Rate Fairness Board holds public meetings and provides recommendations to ensure affordability, stability, and fairness.

Interested customers and other parties can provide comments on the proposed rates at the Rate Fairness Board and Commission hearings. To learn more about our rates package, rate setting process, and upcoming meetings, visit sfpuc.gov/2026-rates.

The rates study that the SFPUC is using as a basis for these actions can be found at sfpuc.gov/2026-rates. Copies will also be provided upon request. Please email: ratesinfo@sfwater.org.

Proposed Rates Schedule

The SFPUC is proposing to update the water and sewer rates effective July 1, 2026. For the average single-family residential household in San Francisco, the proposed new rate schedule represents an average combined monthly bill increase of approximately $21 and $23 per month in fiscal years 2027 and 2028 respectively (about 12.6% and 12.5% per year).

The following sections describe these bill components for residential and non-residential customers. Our website has examples of an average single-family monthly bill, as well as a bill calculator where you can develop personalized bill estimates. Visit sfpuc.gov/2026-rates for the bill calculator and other useful information.

Bills contain two core elements: fixed charges that cover shared costs relevant to all customers and volumetric rates based on the amount of water used or wastewater produced.

For further information, visit sfpuc.gov/2026-rates. Reference your most recent bill to obtain your meter size and water use (per month).

Monthly Fixed Charges

Service charges are the same every month, regardless of usage.

Water service charges vary by meter size. Water service charges recover fixed costs, like the Water Enterprise’s portion of customer service and billing, maintenance of water meters, and facilities used to provide water for fire protection that benefits all SFPUC customers.

Sewer service charges are the same for all sewer customers. Sewer service charges recover a portion of fixed costs associated with the Wastewater Enterprise’s share of customer service and billing.

The stormwater component of the sewer bill is for costs associated with treating stormwater runoff. The SFPUC’s combined sewer system treats both wastewater and stormwater. The stormwater component is assessed on a three-tiered structure for residential customers, based on the total assessor’s parcel size, with smaller parcels being charged a lower rate that gradually increases for larger parcels. Non-residential, mixed-use, and large residential parcels (over 6,000 square feet or with more than six dwelling units) are charged based on their total permeable and impermeable surface area. Permeable surfaces, like planters and lawns, can absorb water except in large storms. Impermeable surfaces, like driveways and roofs, direct more water to — and impose more costs on — the sewer system. The stormwater component recovers the cost of stormwater-specific infrastructure and the stormwater portion of the combined sewer system.

Water service to private fire protection is for properties with fire sprinklers or standpipes. These charges are calculated to recover costs for customer service, billing, and maintenance specific to private fire meters.

Proposed Water Rates for Monthly Service Charge (based on meter size)

Proposed Wastewater Rates for Monthly Service Charge

Proposed Stormwater Component of the Sewer Bill

Proposed Monthly Private Fire Protection

Volumetric Rates: Residential Customers

Residential water rates are billed based on metered water usage and have two tiers. For single-family properties, the first four units of water per month are billed the first-tier rate, and any additional units are billed the second-tier rate. For multi-family residential properties, the first three units of water per dwelling unit per month are billed the first-tier rate, while any additional units of water are billed the second-tier rate. The second tier is a higher unit rate to reflect the additional costs needed to reliably serve high-volume users 24/7.

Residential wastewater rates are billed based on the estimated volume of water that returns to the sewer system. The default volume for single-family residences is 90% of water usage; the default for multi-family residences is 95% of water usage. All discharge units of wastewater are billed at the same rate.

Volumetric Rates: Non-Residential Customers

Non-residential water rates are billed based on metered water usage. There are no tiers for non-residential customers.

Non-residential wastewater rates vary based on the volume of pollutants present in the discharge of various customer types. As a result, the rates shown in the table have four parts: a volumetric charge based on 90% of the customer’s billed water consumption and three strength charges based on the concentration of pollutants in a customer’s wastewater discharge. The concentrations are based on the type of business operated at the service address. Visit our website at sfpuc.gov/2026-rates to look up the pounds of pollutants per unit of wastewater for your business type.

Volumetric Water Rates (1 unit of water = 1 Ccf = 748 gallons)

Volumetric Wastewater Rates (1 unit of water = 1 Ccf = 748 gallons)

Temporary Drought Surcharge

A drought surcharge is a temporary charge that is levied only when the SFPUC Commission puts the SFPUC Water Shortage Contingency Plan into effect, requesting or requiring that customers reduce water usage. When implemented, the drought surcharge increases the volumetric water and wastewater rates for all customer types up to the percentages shown in the table on the right. These percentages are calculated to recover costs based on reduced billed volumes.

As an example, if the Commission declares a Stage 1 drought, asking customers to reduce water consumption by 5%, the SFPUC will analyze the forecasted reduced billed volumes and set a water and wastewater drought surcharge of up to 5%. For water, this 5% temporary surcharge would be applied to both tier rates for residential water customers and to the volumetric rate per unit for non-residential customers. For sewer, this surcharge would be applied to the volumetric rate per unit of wastewater discharge for residential and non-residential customers, as well as the rate per pound of pollutants for non-residential customers.

The SFPUC may set the percentage surcharge lower than shown on the table below to ensure that rates do not exceed the costs of providing water and sewer services to customers.

Water Shortage Contingency Plan

Public Hearing, Protest and Projection Procedures

Notice of Public Hearing on Proposed Water and Sewer Rates
On Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at the regular San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (Commission) meeting that begins at 1:30 pm, the Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed changes to the water and sewer rates in San Francisco City Hall, Room 400, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco, California, 94102.  

Public Comment and Participation: The SFPUC Commission will hear oral comments and consider all Protests and Objections submitted under the Protest and Separate Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies Procedures at the hearing. Additionally, the Commission will hear staff responses to Objections at the public hearing. Oral comments at the public hearing will be recorded in the public record of the hearing but will not be counted as a Protest or Objection. Only written Protests and written Objections will be counted as formal Protests under Proposition 218. At the conclusion of the public hearing, the Commission will consider adopting the proposed water and sewer rates described in the Proposition 218 Notice. The Commission may impose the proposed rates if timely written Protests are not submitted by property owners or customers of record on behalf of a majority of the parcels affected by the proposed changes.  

Protest Procedure (Cal. Const., art. XIII D, § 6(a)): The owner of record of any parcel upon which the water and sewer rates are proposed for imposition, or a customer of record who is not the property owner (e.g., a tenant), may submit a written Protest to one or more proposed rate changes (“Protest”); however, only one Protest will be counted per identified parcel. Any written Protest must: (1) state that the identified property owner or customer is in opposition to the proposed rate increase; (2) provide the location of the identified parcel (by assessor’s parcel number, street address, or customer account); and (3) include the name and signature of the person submitting the Protest. If a party is protesting one or more proposed rate changes, the party should identify the rate or rates that are being protested. Although oral comments at the public hearing will not qualify as a formal Protest unless accompanied by a written Protest, the SFPUC welcomes input from the community during the public hearing on the proposed water and sewer rates. All Protests must be received by the SFPUC prior to the conclusion of the public comment portion of the public hearing on April 28, 2026.  

Separate Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies Procedure 

(Gov. Code § 53759.1): The owner of record of any parcel upon which the water and sewer rates are proposed for imposition, or a customer of record who is not the property owner (e.g., a tenant), may submit a written Objection (“Objection”) to the Commission.    

Any Objection must: (1) state the specific rate change for which the Objection is being submitted; (2) provide the location of the identified parcel (by customer account number, street address, or assessor’s parcel number); (3) include the name of the party submitting the Objection; (4) indicate the submission is an Objection; and (5) specify the grounds for alleging the SFPUC’s noncompliance with Proposition 218. Please note the specified grounds must be sufficiently detailed to allow the SFPUC to determine whether alterations to the proposed rate change may be needed. By way of example, an Objection stating a proposed rate change violates Proposition 218, without providing detail explaining the basis for this claim, is insufficient. Objections must be received by mail or hand delivered no later than 4:30 pm Pacific Time on Thursday, April 2, 2026. Failure to timely submit an Objection will bar any right to challenge the fee or charge through a legal proceeding. All timely Objections received will also be counted as a Protest. Any Objection received later than 4:30 pm on Thursday, April 2, 2026 and before the close of the public comment portion of the public hearing will only be considered and counted as a Protest and not an Objection.  

Objections and Protests can be mailed to:
SFPUC, ATTN: Director of Commission Affairs, 
525 Golden Gate Avenue, 13th Floor, 
San Francisco, CA 94102.  

Objections can also be hand-delivered to the Customer Service Bureau at 525 Golden Gate Avenue, 1st Floor, Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4:30 pm, excluding legal holidays. Hand-delivered Objections must be deposited in the box labeled “2026 Water and Sewer Rate Written Objections Only.”

Protests can also be hand-delivered to the Director of Commission Affairs during the public comments section of the rate hearing.  

Objections or Protests submitted by email, fax, or other means not mentioned above will not be accepted as an Objection or a Protest. At its April 28, 2026 public hearing, the SFPUC Commission will consider all timely submitted Objections and SFPUC responses.