Wastewater Fee

Wastewater Fee Overview

Residential and Commercial Customer Rate Reductions Approved for Fixed and Water Consumption Charges for 2025

• The City of Windsor has announced wastewater rate reductions to residential and commercial rates for 2025.
• The majority of the expenditure increases are not due to increases in operations but are instead a result of an increased contribution to capital expenditures. This capital funding is used to fund the maintenance of pollution control equipment; sewer-related capital work, including the significant sewer and flood mitigation investments identified as part of the Sewer Master Plan; inflationary pressures on capital projects; and stable funding for the Wastewater Reserve.
• The reductions to the wastewater rates will become effective on January 1, 2025.
• The average residential customer with consumption similar to 2024 will pay less for the wastewater component of their water bill in 2025.
• As always, consumers can reduce their wastewater costs through continued conservation.

What is the wastewater fee used for?

• The wastewater fee on the water bill contains a fixed charge component based on the size of the service and a consumption charge component based on water consumed. The revenue collected is used to fund capital projects largely related to alleviating basement flooding, along with operational expenditures related to sewer maintenance, sewage pumping stations and sewage treatment plants.
• Increased summer consumption for uses that typically do not return water to the sewer system (e.g. filling pools, washing cars, watering grass, etc.) is not included in the calculation of the wastewater fee.
• The City, on behalf of its residents, maintains 1,800 kilometres of sewers, 45 pumping stations and 2 major pollution control plants. These assets have a value of approximately $2 billion.
• There is a continued need to comply with ever more stringent environmental regulations, which achieve important environmental objectives but are costly to implement. In addition, the effects of climate change are resulting in more frequent severe storms that increase the risks of flooding in the city. As a result, the City has spent $110 million to upgrade the Lou Romano Sewage Treatment Plant and $67 million on the Mario Sonego Storm Retention Treatment Basin (RTB). Additional flood mitigating projects, as outlined in the Sewer Master Plan, are currently being constructed by leveraging grant funding from senior levels of government.

Why is the wastewater fee paid as part of the water bill?

• The wastewater fee is a charge assessed on your Windsor Utilities Commission water bill, as sewer related costs incurred by the City are excluded from the property tax bill.
• This methodology supports the “User Pay Principle,” since a majority of the wastewater fee–related costs are directly related to the amount of water discharged into the sewer system and treatment plants. The transparency of allowing the consumer to monitor the amount of water used and wastewater fee that they are being billed for allows the consumers the ability to reduce their water consumption, thus reducing the amount of wastewater fee that they pay.
• In 2021, City Council approved the Stormwater Financing Study recommendation to separate the sewer surcharge into two different fee structures: wastewater and stormwater. Starting in January 2025, the wastewater fee will still be based on your water usage, but the stormwater fee will now be based on the amount of impervious area (hard surfaces) on your property.