Water Rates: Business
Are you a business owner?
Business customers are industrial, commercial, schools, hospitals and non-profit organizations (also known as institutional) that use water and wastewater services.
Business customers may also be part of the wastewater surcharge program and/or the effluent metering program.
Business customers’ rates and service charges are determined by the size of their water meter.
Meter sizes are grouped into two customer classes with a specialized rates and service charges for the meter sizes within the classes:
- Regular meter customers - those with meters smaller than 75mm
- Large meter customers - those with meters 75mm or larger
Business rates
Business customers’ rates and service charges are determined by the size of their water meter. Two examples for specific meter sizes are shown below.
You can find additional rate information by meter size on page 36 of the Water Utility Bylaw and page 42 of the Wastewater Bylaw.
Regular Meter Customer - 25 mm meter
Business Customer: Regular Meter (Based on a business using 400m3 per month) | ||||||
2025 | 2026 | % change | Impact on monthly bill | 2026 monthly bill | ||
| Water treatment and supply | Usage rate per cubic metre (1 cubic metre = 1000 litres) | $1.5173 | $1.6265 | +6.75% | +$43.06 | $680.67 |
Service charge per 30 days | $30.69 | $30.07 | ||||
| Wastewater collection and treatment | Usage rate per cubic metre (1 cubic metre = 1000 litres) | $2.4272 | $2.6117 | +7.27% | +$65.33 | $963.66 |
Service charge per 30 days | $24.54 | $23.45 | ||||
| Stormwater management | Service charge per 30 days | $16.30 | $17.00 | +4.29% | +$0.70 | $17.00 |
*Not all of the water delivered to your business over 12 months is returned to the wastewater system. The wastewater usage is your water usage multiplied by 0.90 to reflect that over the course of the year you return around 90% of the water used to the wastewater system.
This percentage is used year round and recognizes seasonal fluctuations where you send more water to the wastewater treatment system in the winter months and less during the summer months because of outdoor activities like watering.
Large Meter Customer - 150 mm meter
Business Customer: Large Meter (Based on a business using 10,365m3 per month) | ||||||
2025 | 2026 | % change | Impact on monthly bill | 2026 monthly bill | ||
| Water treatment and supply | Usage rate per cubic metre (1 cubic metre = 1000 litres) | $1.4453 | $1.5404 | +6.62% | +$1,025.67 | $16,510.77 |
Service charge per 30 days | $504.56 | $544.52 | ||||
| Wastewater collection and treatment | Usage rate per cubic metre* (1 cubic metre = 1000 litres) | $2.4272 | $2.6117 | +7.57% | +$1,720.02 | $24,386.69 |
Service charge per 30 days | $24.54 | $23.45 | ||||
| Stormwater management | Service charge per 30 days | $16.30 | $17.00 | +4.29% | +$0.70 | $17.00 |
*Not all of the water delivered to your business over 12 months is returned to the wastewater system. The wastewater usage is your water usage multiplied by 0.90 to reflect that over the course of the year you return around 90% of the water used to the wastewater system.
This percentage is used year round and recognizes seasonal fluctuations where you send more water to the wastewater treatment system in the winter months and less during the summer months because of outdoor activities like watering.
Wastewater Surcharge Program Rates
The City of Calgary Water Utility operates on a cost recovery model, which includes a surcharge program to recover the costs associated with treating higher strength wastewater. The costs are the responsibility of those contributing to it.
The wastewater service surcharge is billed in addition to regular wastewater service charges when our lab tests show that a business is releasing over-strength wastewater into the sewer system. This surcharge appears as a separate item on your water utility bill. Learn more about the wastewater surcharge program here.
To learn more about the formulas, charges and how they are calculated, and contaminate limits visit Wastewater Bylaw 14M2012 and refer to Schedule E and F.
Effluent Metering Rates
Some businesses use a large amount of water but return much less than 90 per cent back as wastewater. For these businesses, an effluent meter may be a more accurate way of measuring wastewater. An effluent meter is a device that measures the volume of wastewater released into the wastewater system. You can learn more about the effluent metering program here.
For customers who have applied and qualified for the effluent metering program, in addition to the other water utility rates charges, they will be billed a charge equal to the service charge and the usage rate according to the following table.
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Wastewater service charge ($ per 30 days) |
$27.10 |
25.58 |
24.54 |
23.45 |
|
Wastewater usage rate ($ per cubic metre of measured wastewater released) |
2.1182 |
2.2489 |
2.4272 |
2.6117 |
We do regular research with businesses to better understand the outlook and viewpoint of the business community.
If you are a business owner, leader or manager, join our online business research panel, Business Perspectives.
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