Type the cubic metres from your Lusaka Water bill or meter and see the charge step by step, at the rates NWASCO last approved — with sewerage, the meter charge, and what kiosks and unmetered homes pay.
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From Town Tools. For the current version, visit https://www.towntools.org/lusaka-lusaka-province-zm/water-bill
cubic metres (m³)
≈ 15,000 litres
Your Lusaka Water bill shows the month's consumption in cubic metres, and so does the meter itself — the difference between two readings a month apart. One cubic metre is 1,000 litres, or fifty 20-litre containers. A household of five using 40 litres each a day uses about 6 m³ a month.
1 m³ = 1,000 litres. These are the rates for a metered home (domestic). The K10 is Lusaka Water's fixed meter charge for a domestic meter, on every monthly bill. Two smaller lines on LWSC's approved schedule are not in this figure: a sanitation charge of 2.5% of the water bill — about K2.50 for every K100 of water — and a "cost of raw water" of K2.50 for domestic customers, which the schedule lists without saying how it is charged. Expect your bill to be a little above the total here.
Your estimated monthly bill
At 2026 rates
ZK 139.56
a month
Water
ZK 109.66
Sewer
ZK 29.90
Total
ZK 139.56
Water includes the monthly base charge, your metered usage, any per-meter fees and sales tax.
Sewerage is charged at 30% of the water charge for a home connected to Lusaka Water's sewer. It is not charged on the K10 meter charge.
Lusaka Water bills a metered home in steps: the first 6 cubic metres of the month at one price, the next 24 at a higher one, and so on up five steps — plus a K10 meter charge, and a sewerage charge if your house is on the sewer. The bill shows the total, not how it was reached.
These are the rates the regulator, NWASCO, last approved for Lusaka Water. They have not gone up since 2019 — the regulator's own 2024 and 2025 reports say no increase was put in place either year — but no newer schedule has been published, and that is worth knowing before you rely on any figure here.
An estimate, not your bill
This is a guide, not your actual bill. Real bills depend on your meter size, your exact metered use, and any adjustments or programs you qualify for. Check your bill or the city for the exact figures.
Why the bills keep rising
How the steps work
Each price applies only to the water inside its step, not to the whole month. At 15 m³ you pay 6 m³ at K5.93 (K35.58) and 9 m³ at K7.12 (K64.08) — K99.66 for the water, plus the K10 meter charge. Using a little more never makes the water you already used dearer. NWASCO's own 2025 report works the same steps for 6, 30 and 60 m³ and gets K35, K206 and K449 for the water alone, which is what these rates give to the nearest kwacha.
A home with no meter is billed a flat amount each month on LWSC's approved schedule: K76, K148 or K329, by whether the area counts as low, medium or high cost. The schedule does not say which areas fall in which band; your bill, or Lusaka Water, will. Water from a metered kiosk or public tap is K5 per cubic metre — 10 ngwee for a 20-litre container at the approved rate. If a kiosk charges you more than that, the approved rate is the one to quote.
Piped water and sewerage carry no VAT. They were exempt until the end of 2025, and since 1 January 2026 they are zero-rated instead — a change in how the utility accounts for VAT, not in what you pay.
Lusaka Water's domestic rates were last raised in 2019. The regulator's 2024 report says there was no upward adjustment "as government position on the matter was still being awaited", and its 2025 report says the same again. The same 2025 report puts the sector's cost of supplying a cubic metre at about K19 against an average price of about K7.90. That gap is the reason a rise is likely when one is finally approved — and the reason to check NWASCO's announcements before trusting this page's figures for long.
Reconnection after a disconnection is K100 for a home. Unblocking a domestic sewer is K150. Testing a meter you think is wrong is K75 — worth knowing if your bill jumps and the steps above do not explain it.