North City Water District sends out invoices on a bi-monthly (every two month) basis. If you have a fireline, you will receive a separate billing statement for that account on a monthly basis. A typical water bill includes the following charges:
Base Charge
Covers the costs of maintaining our infrastructure used to deliver water to your house. The majority of our customers fall under the single family residence category. The base rate for a single family household with a 5/8” x 3/4” meter is $55.67. For a list of all water billing rates by meter size and service type, click here.
Usage Charge
Covers the cost of water used during service period. Our usage charge is set up in a step rate so that as your usage goes up, the cost of water goes up, in order to encourage our customers to conserve water. For single family house with 5/8” x 3/4” meter:
| # of Water Units Used | 0 – 4 | 5 – 10 | 11 – 24 | 25+ |
| Cost Per Unit of Water | $2.75 | $4.32 | $5.89 | $7.46 |
City Franchise Fee
A 6% “right of way” or “franchise” fee is charged on your water service by the cities of Lake Forest Park or Shoreline, depending on where your service is located. The District does not keep any portion of this fee.
Fire Protection Charge
This is a flat rate of $10.05 per month per ERU.
Example Billing
A single-family household that used 12 units* of water (8,976 gallons) during a 2 month period would receive a bill calculated as follows:
| Base Charge for Single Family | $ 55.67 |
| 4 Units of Water @ $2.75/unit | 11.00 |
| 6 Units of Water @ $4.32/unit | 25.92 |
| 2 Units of Water @ $5.89/unit | 11.78 |
| Fixed Charge – Fire Protection | 10.05 |
| 6% City Franchise Fee | 6.87 |
| TOTAL | $121.29 |
*Unit Definition
1 unit = 100 cubic feet of water
1 cubic foot of water = 7.48 gallons of water
Therefore, 1 unit = 748 gallons of water