What's the average cost per gallon of water from water companies?

Question

Well I live in NC...and this month, my water consumption was 4,020 gallons...and my water bill was $78.73! Is this adding up right?

Answer 1

We are really paying to provide storage, sourcing, treatment, and delivery, when we buy from our public utility.

So we have large users of water  who effectively pay for the main with their volume, and low volume users get a heavily subsidized services. This is true despite the lower per litre charge at those large volumes.

The big volume users could individually or as a group pay to have their own or group services at lower cost than they must pay for municipal service.  But if they did that, the municipality would have to be jumping over or under the private services, so the law is that the municipality gets to charge them more than they could do it for themselves but still less than low volume consumers pay.

Because water service capital costs are paid for when subdivisions are built or replaced, we see different per litre rates based on how new the subdivision is, and how long since capital work has been done, and what it cost.

Our  new subdivision charge is close to 0.1 cent per litre for domestic volumes, and  0.03 cents per litre for industrial volumes.

Some older parts of the city pay less than the industrial rates because their capital costs are long since paid off. They will soon pay more as their pipes are close to end of their life.

Answer 2

It varies depending on how much water you use.  In my area it can get as low as a few dollars per 1,000 gallons.  

That may not be the average nationwide however.

You're getting ripped off.  If we used that much it would be about $15.  Our water bills are usually less than $10 a month.