Water/Sewer Billing

Residential water customers - Hamilton Customers

• For information on your water meter or water/wastewater bill, call a Horizon Utilities Customer Service Representative.
  
• To get a water meter installed contact the City of Hamilton
  
• To ask about water rates or repairs, contact the City of Hamilton

• To find out how reading your water meter can help you save on your water use, click here

Sewer Usage Charges

Unlike most municipal services, which residents pay for through property taxes, water, wastewater & storm water services are self-financing. That means residents are directly billed for the water they use, including the costs for transporting clean water to their homes, as well as, managing the wastewater discharged from their homes for treatment and release back into the environment. Residents who do not have access to municipal water and/or wastewater/storm sewer services are not charged for the services they do not access.

The sewer surcharge portion of your water bill covers all the costs associated with the water you discharge, right from the time it leaves your house in a sanitary sewer line, to its treatment and eventual release into Lake Ontario. The infrastructure needed to transport and treat wastewater is financially significant. In addition to the pipes, there are treatment plants, pumping stations and storage facilities. Since much of this infrastructure is aging, it requires ongoing rehabilitation or replacement to maintain current standards.

What is the sewer usage charge rate?

Similar to many municipalities, sewage collection and treatment expenses in Hamilton are recovered through surcharges on water bills. Customer sewer charges are not based on sewage flow - to do so, would require metering to be installed for all customers which would be cost prohibitive. Hence, the sewage surcharge is a percentage of the water bill. Driving factors for utilizing a surcharge rate structure include revenue stability, conservation, fairness, economic development/competitiveness, financial sufficiency/cost recovery and ease of implementation/understanding.

Exactly how much residents and businesses pay for sewers is based on the amount of water they consume. That's because the more water used, the more wastewater the City must transport and ultimately treat before it can be released back into the environment. Therefore the amount of water residents consume is multiplied by a pre-determined sewer surcharge rate to determine the sewer fee that appears on their water bill. The sewer surcharge rate is a percentage of your water charge that will be needed to cover the costs of operating and maintaining the sewer infrastructure. For Hamilton, the rate required to adequately cover sewer costs has been set at 100% to reflect that the respective water and wastewater budget costs are approximately relatively comparable.

YOUR SEWER USAGE CHARGE ($) = YOUR WATER CHARGE ($) X SEWER SURCHARGE RATE (100%)

Away for a while?

If you plan to be away for an extended period, consider shutting off the water to the house (with the exception where water is used for heating purposes) by closing the shutoff valve and opening faucets to relieve pressure in the lines. In absence of a shutoff valve, at least close the water supply to toilets, sinks, tubs and washing machines that often have individual shutoff valves. Should a plumbing problem occur in your absence, these simple measures could protect your property from damage and high costs associated with a water leak.

To arrange for account payments during your extended absence, contact Horizon Utilities' Customer Service office between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm Monday through Friday. Click here to contact us.