Your sewer cap: what this winter sets for next year

Your December, January and February water use becomes the cap your sewer bill is charged against from 1 July 2027. Work out what yours would be, and what one unit is actually worth.

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Town Tools builds free, public tools for San Luis Obispo and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.

What this means for you

Between 1 December and 10 March the city measures how much water your household uses. The average of your December, January and February use becomes your sewer cap — the most water you will be billed for sewer in any month from 1 July 2027 to 30 June 2028.

Nothing you do after 10 March changes that number. Before then, two things move it: outdoor watering, which the city asks you to switch off for the window, and a leak, which quietly adds to every month it runs. Finding one now is worth more than finding it in April.

The city tracks three billing periods: your December usage, read in January; your January usage, read in February; and your February usage, read in March.

Work out your cap

Do you know your winter water use?

Which kind of home?

Your sewer cap

units a month

A single-family home: the published default, which applies until you have a winter’s history. New single-family customers are given a 5-unit cap until there is a winter of usage to average.

What the cap is worth to you

A typical summer month’s water use (units)

What the meter reads in a month when you are watering — May to October. This is the number that decides whether the cap saves you anything.

Apply the Customer Assistance Program (CAP) discount (20%)

Add a typical summer month above to see what your cap is worth over the year.

Month	Water used	Carried in	Billed	Rolls over
March	3.8	0	3	0.8
April	0.2	0.8	1	0

From	Rate	Per unit, up to the cap	Monthly service charge
July 1, 2024	2024–25	$9.82	$24.52
July 1, 2025	2025–26	$10.46	$26.11
July 1, 2026	2026–27 — in force now	$11.14	$27.81

People in the home	Yearly income under
1 person	$31,920
2 people	$43,280
3 people	$54,640
4 people	$66,000
5 people	$77,360
6 people	$88,720
7 people	$100,080
8 people	$111,440

Your sewer cap: what this winter sets for next year

About these tools

What this means for you

Work out your cap

What the cap is worth to you

Where to find your usage

What one unit is

Whole units, and the bit that rolls over

Who the cap applies to

The sewer rates

Utility Users Tax

Customer Assistance Program (CAP)

Who qualifies

Or by household income

Worth knowing

Why the cap exists

Water is tiered, sewer is not

Ask about your own account

Check it yourself