Water & Wastewater Billing / Payment Options

Water information due dates

The City of Port Colborne issues Water and Wastewater bills monthly starting July 15, 2021.  Please visit our Water - Wastewater Billing  for more information.

The City is divided into 3 areas for the purpose of reading your water meter and producing your Water and Wastewater bill.

Payment must be received at City Hall no later the 4:30 p.m. on the due date.

A late payment fee of 1.25% is charged on the first day of default to all users. This will occur on the first day of every month until payment is received.

Water payments must be received at the Municipal Office City Hall on or before the due date.

* Failure to receive a water and wastewater bill does not excuse the ratepayer from paying for utilities and penalties.

Water meter reading and billing dates

Water meter readings and billings are normally done as per the water billing schedule, with specific due dates.

Water and Wastewater rates and charges

There are two components of the water and wastewater bill:

• Usage Charges - The usage charges are determined by the amount of water that you have used and has passed through your water meter.
• Fixed Charges - The fixed charges pays for the on-going maintenance and repair of the water and wastewater system.

2021 Rates 

*Depending on how much water is consumed, the total usage charge is billed every three months. Fixed charges are charged every three months. All ratepayers who receive a water and wastewater bill, are charged the fixed charges even if you do not use any water or turn your tap on.

2021 Water rates By-law

By-law No. 6873/21/21 – Being a By-law to Amend By-law No. 3151/22/95, as Amended, A By-law to Regulate the Supply of Water and to Provide for the Maintenance and Management of the Water Works and for the Imposition and Collection of Water Rates

2021 Sewer rates By-law

By-law No. 6873/21/21 – Being a By-law to Amend By-law No. 3424/6/97, as Amended, Being a By-law for the Imposition and Collection of Sewage Service Rates and Sewer Rates

Owners and tenants

Water and wastewater bills are tied directly to the ownership of the property.

A property owner can request us to add the word c/o tenant to the mailing address, which allows the bill to be mailed to the service address.

The owner of the property is responsible to pay the water and wastewater bill, should the tenant fail to pay.

In person

You can pay your water and wastewater bill in person at the cashier counter on the first floor of City Hall in Port Colborne located at 66 Charlotte Street.

We accept cash, debit, cheques, bank drafts or money orders.

Hours of Operation

Monday to Friday – 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (closed on all statutory holidays)

By mail

Make your cheque payable to the City of Port Colborne and mail to:

City of Port Colborne

66 Charlotte Street

Port Colborne, ON

L3K 3C8

• Include the water / wastewater payment stub to ensure payment is applied to your account
• Write your water and wastewater number account on your cheque.
• Post dated cheques are accepted and are processed on the due date.
• US cheques are accepted and we apply the exchange rate the day it is received.

To avoid late fees, please ensure your payment reaches us by the due date.

After-hours drop box

There is a 24 hour mail drop slot located at the front of City of Hall.

Make your cheque payable to the City of Port Colborne.

• Include the water and wastewater payment stub to ensure payment is applied to your account
• Write your water and wastewater account number on your cheque.
• Post dated cheques are accepted and processed on the due date.

No cash payments please.

Financial Institution

You can make your water & wastewater payment in person at any branch or ATM at all banks or other financial institutions.

On-line/telephone banking

Pay your water and wastewater bill through on-line/telephone banking, by adding The City of Port Colborne as a payee.

Provide your account number that is located on your water and wastewater bill (8 digits and remove the decimal).

Pre-authorized payment plans

For your convenience, set up pre-authorized automatic withdrawals from your bank account to pay your water and wastewater bill.

The City offers a Pre-Authorized Payment Plan option and your payment will automatically come out of your bank account on the water and wastewater due date. 

Starting October 2021, citizens who set up pre-authorized automatic withdrawals to pay their water and wastewater bill will receive a one time credit of $25.00 applied to their water and wastewater bill.

(Pre-authorized payments on the account must stay active for at least 1 year or the $25.00 credit will be charged back to the water and wastewater bill)

Complete the Pre-Authorized Payment Plan Application Form

Complete the Pre-Authorized Account Change Form to cancel the Pre-Authorized Plan or if your banking information has changed.

E-Billing – Go to paperless billing

If you are interested in signing up for paperless billing, please register for e-billing by completing the application form.

Application for Seniors GIS Wastewater Credit

This program is available to support Seniors on guaranteed income supplement (GIS). The credit will be applied on an application basis at the rate approved by Council in the water budget report. The credit is non-refundable, meaning if for any reason the credit would result in the City credit being larger than actual charges, a payment for the difference would not be awarded. Further, in the event an applicant becomes ineligible at any given time through the year of the credit application, the credit will be prorated to the date of eligibility.

Starting this April, individuals who are eligible for the program will receive a $244 credit on their water account with the City of Port Colborne when they provide their Application and GIS supporting document before December 1. 2021

The applicant must be the account holder on the water bill to be eligible for this credit.

Citizens who are eligible, please complete the Seniors GIS (Guaranteed Income Supplement) Wastewater application and return by mail: 66 Charlotte Street, email: customerservice@portcolborne.ca or by fax: 905-834-5746 

All applications for the year 2021 must be submitted by December 1, 2021

What causes a high water bill

A sudden rise in the amount of your bill may be due to a number of reasons:

• Plumbing leaks in toilets and/or fixtures (98% of all high water bills are caused by a toilet leak!).
• An increase in the number of people living or working in your dwelling.
• A dry, hot summer, resulting in higher water use.
• An increase in the number of days in the billing period.
• Renovations, recent landscaping, or filling a swimming pool.
• Consecutive estimated water meter readings followed by an actual water meter reading.
  • If your water was estimated and your consumption for previous billing periods was higher than estimated, you may see an increase on your current bill.

If you see a sudden rise in your bill, you may have a leak in your private plumbing system. Learn more about water leaks, costs and how to spot a leak. All water use, including water consumed by leaks, is your responsibility and will be charged to your utili

Costs of leaks

If you have a leak, your water use will increase and remain elevated until it is fixed. This will affect your water consumption charges and result in a higher utility bill.

Leaky toilets

Leaky toilets are the #1 cause of high water bills! A leaky toilet can waste upwards of 300 USG (or approximately 1 cubic metre, or 1,000 litres) of water EVERY DAY! Over a 90 day billing period, that leakage can total 90 cubic metres, and result in an extra $250 in water and wastewater charges* on your bill!

*calculated with 2020 rates of $1.365/m3 (water) and $1.382/m3 (sewer)

City Hall offers toilet leak tester kits, free of charge. See our Leaky Toilet brochure for information on how to check your toilet for leaks.

Other leaks

Anything in your home that is connected to your plumbing system has the potential to leak or run continuously and could cause a high water bill. Additional frequent causes of high water bills that we have seen include:

• Filling a swimming pool – filling your pool at the beginning of the season and topping it up throughout the summer can add $50-100 to your water bill
• Lawn/garden watering – this activity can add $20-50 to your water bill
• Water softeners/water filtration systems – these systems can fail and cause excessive water to be used
• Furnace humidifiers – solenoid valve can fail and cause water to run continuously
• Water powered sump pump – solenoid valve can fail and cause water to run continuously
• Outdoor leaks – not only can an outside tap drip, if you have any buried plumbing lines (i.e. to a swimming pool, a garden shed, sprinkler system etc.), the line can break underground.
• Broken plumbing – plumbing has been known to break and leak in crawlspaces and inside the wall

For instructions on how to read your water meter, please visit our Water Meters page

Water meters are an important component of Port Colborne's drinking water system. Every residential, industrial, commercial, and institutional customer is equipped with a water meter to track consumption.  This ensures that each individual customer is billed for only the water they consume.

There are more than 6,000 water meters within the city. Water meters are mechanical devices, which require maintenance and/or replacement every so often depending on their size.  Some industrial water meters need to be replaced yearly, where most residential water meters only need to be replaced around every 20 years.

Nearly all water meters were replaced in 2016; the approximate 500 that were not replaced were less than 5 years old. While a handful of analog meters remain in service, nearly all of the water meters in operation today are digital water meters that have the ability to store 95 days worth of hourly water usage data. City staff can download this data to help identify if abnormal water usage is occurring.

Where is my water meter and what are my responsibilities?

Water meters are typically located in the basement, along the front wall and near the floor, immediately after your water shut off valve. Other common places include basement washrooms, laundry rooms and furnace rooms. Properties with crawlspaces may have the meter in the crawlspace, in a cabinet on the main floor, or the meter may be in a special chamber at the property line, called a “meter pit”. If you aren't certain where your water meter is located, please contact the City and we'll do our best to help.

Water meters are owned by the City, however, property owners have a responsibility to protect the meter from damage (i.e. insulated to keep it from freezing) and must ensure the water meter remains accessible (i.e. do not build a wall over the meter, install fixtures that block the meter). Additionally, all water meters have been installed with a special tamper seal and tag. If you or your plumber have to cut the seal and tag in order to complete some plumbing work, please notify us immediately so that we can inspect and re-seal your water meter.

My water meter is leaking

Verify that the leak is coming from the actual meter, or where the meter connects to your plumbing, and not from the surrounding pipes and/or the water shut off valve. The City is not responsible for leaky pipes or water shut off valves. If one of these items is leaking, you may wish to contact a plumber.

If the meter itself is leaking, or it is leaking where the meter connects to your plumbing, contact the City at 905-835-2900 to make a service request, and our staff will contact you to arrange an appointment to inspect/repair the meter. If during a service request, it is discovered that the meter is damaged, frozen or missing, property owners will be charged for the repair or replacement.

Reading your water meter

In order to read the digital water meters, the display first has be activated. This can require a bright light, like an LED light, (a cell phone light works well) and some patience. Please see either the Version 4 Meter info sheet or the R900i Meter info sheet for details on what the display is telling you. You can determine which meter you have from the picture on the sheet.

Please see our How to Read Your Water Meter information sheet on how to read your water meter and how you can use it to assist in diagnosing and finding leaks.