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From Town Tools. For the current version, visit https://www.towntools.org/mzuzu-mzimba-mw/what-water-costs
cubic metres (m³) — one cubic metre is 1,000 litres
Your bill shows the units consumed for the month in cubic metres. If you only have the meter readings, it is this month's reading minus last month's.
The published bands
Band
How much
Water
The first 3 m³
up to 3 m³
MK 2,725
Above 3 m³ up to 8 m³
3–8 m³
MK 2,901
Everything above 8 m³
everything above 8 m³
MK 2,989
Your estimated monthly bill
At 2026–27 tariff, in force since 7 August 2026 rates
MK 16,878.00
a month
Water
MK 16,878.00
Total
MK 16,878.00
Water is your metered usage at the rates above. There is no standing charge on top of it.
Mzuzu's piped water comes from the Northern Region Water Board, and new tariffs for it were gazetted on 7 August 2026 — the domestic first band rose from K2,009 to K2,725 a cubic metre, about 36% more, and the communal-kiosk rate from K691 to K942. This page works your own bill out at the new rates.
Put in the cubic metres your meter recorded and it walks the three published bands for you. There is no standing charge in the schedule: you pay for the water and nothing else. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
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.
Worth knowing
Water from a kiosk is charged differently
A communal water point — a kiosk — is billed at K942 a cubic metre, up from K691 before 7 August 2026. That is about K19 for a 20-litre pail of water at the kiosk's own cost, before whatever the attendant charges to run it, and it is roughly a third of the household rate per cubic metre. Many Mzuzu households without a connection pay a vendor well above either figure.
The tariff is what the water costs when it arrives. Mzuzu's treatment works produces roughly 20 million litres a day against about 30 million litres of demand, so supply is intermittent on no published timetable and the higher and outer areas lose their taps first. The Is the water out? board on this site is where neighbours tell each other what is happening now.
What this page does not include
The gazetted schedule carries no standing charge, no sewerage line and no VAT, so neither does this page. A new connection, a meter deposit, a reconnection after disconnection or arrears on an old balance are all charged separately and are not in this arithmetic — ask the NRWB office for those. If your bill differs from this page by more than rounding, the bill is the authority, and the correction form at the foot of the page is how to tell us.
Check the rates or pay your bill
NRWB tariff schedule 2026-27The gazetted schedule these figures are read from, in full — postpaid, prepaid, kiosk, institutional and commercial.
Northern Region Water BoardThe board's own site, with its water bill calculator, pay points and prepaid token retrieval. Toll-free 374 from a TNM line, or the Mzuzu office on 01 310 254.