Water Rates: Business
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
To learn more about how we set rates and service charges, see Understanding Your Water Utility Bill & Water Rates.
Customer service
Questions or concerns about your water utility bill?
Please visit the ENMAX Customer Care Centre or contact 310-2010. ENMAX is The City's contracted customer care, billing and meter reading provider.
Need help reading your water bill?
For information on the rates and service charges on your bill, visit Understanding your Water Utility Bill & Water Rates.
Need a new account?
See how to set up a new water account, visit Accounts and Billing.
Water rates and service charges
Each year we review and adjust rates and service charges to ensure we can continue to deliver the City utility services you value. In 2024, business customers saw an increase in their overall bill.
The average regular meter business customer's combined water, wastewater and stormwater rate and service charge increased by 3.5 percent.
- This works out to $48.64 per month on an average monthly bill of $1,448.03.
The average large-meter business customer's combined water, wastewater and stormwater rate and service charge increased by 3.7 percent,
- This works out to $1,276.21 per month on an average monthly bill of $35,543.45.
Delivering services you value
Rates and service charges are set at the lowest level possible to:
- cover the cost of providing water, wastewater, and stormwater services
- perform required maintenance and upgrades to the system
Utility customers ensure we are able to deliver safe, reliable drinking water, treat wastewater safely and protect the river now and for years to come.
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
Regular Meter Customer- Regular meter (Based on a business using 400m3 per month) |
||||||
2023 |
2024 |
% change |
Impact on monthly bill |
2023 monthly bill |
||
| Water treatment and supply |
Usage rate per cubic metre (1 cubic metre = 1000 litres) |
$1.40 |
$1.42 |
+0.5% |
+$3.11 |
$597.22 |
Service charge per 30 days |
$33.39 |
$31.14 |
||||
| Wastewater collection and treatment |
Usage rate per cubic metre (1 cubic metre = 1000 litres) |
$2.12 |
$2.25 |
+5.8% |
+$45.53 |
$835.18 |
Service charge per 30 days |
$27.10 |
$25.58 |
||||
| Stormwater management |
Service charge per 30 days |
$15.63 |
$15.63 |
0.00% |
$0.00 |
$15.63 |
* Not all of the water delivered to your business over 12 months is returned to the wastewater system. In 2024 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) |
||||||
2023 |
2024 |
% change |
Impact on monthly bill |
2024 monthly bill |
||
| Water treatment and supply |
Usage rate per cubic metre (1 cubic metre = 1000 litres) |
$1.35 |
$1.36 |
+0.4% |
+$58.50 |
$14,523.38 |
Service charge per 30 days |
$459.69 |
$467.40 |
||||
| Wastewater collection and treatment |
Usage rate per cubic metre* (1 cubic metre = 1000 litres) |
$2.12 |
$2.25 |
+6.2% |
+$1217.71 |
$21,004.44 |
Service charge per 30 days |
$27.10 |
$25.58 |
||||
| Stormwater management |
Service charge per 30 days |
$15.63 |
$15.63 |
0.00% |
$0.00 |
$15.63 |
* Not all of the water delivered to your business over 12 months is returned to the wastewater system. In 2024 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 |
27.10 |
25.58 |
24.06 |
22.54 |
Wastewater usage rate |
2.1182 |
2.2489 |
2.3796 |
2.5103 |
Your rates and charges pay for three important services:
Water Treatment and Supply
Treatment and delivery of the clean and safe water used in your home or business, which includes:
- Two water treatment plants
- Maintenance of over 5350 kms of water pipes
- Over 140,000 water quality tests
- Responsive field crews to address service interruptions
Wastewater Collection and Treatment
Collecting and safely treating the water you produce from flushing toilets, draining sinks and bathtubs, and then returning it to our rivers, which includes:
- Three wastewater treatment plants
- Significant upgrades to our treatment plants to meet regulatory requirements
- Maintenance of over 7000 kms of wastewater pipes
- High quality water returned to our rivers
- Responsive field crews to address service interruptions
Stormwater Management*
Reliable street drainage, flood protection and river health, which includes:
- Protection from property damage
- Storm ponds that help protect our rivers from 30,000 tonnes of sediment
- Maintenance and improvements to the stormwater system
- Investment in flood protection and riverbank improvements