The Gilbert Town Council approved rate adjustments to water and solid waste & recycling rates.
Starting with April's utility bill, all Gilbert utility customers will see increases in water and solid waste & recycling rates. The Town Council approved these adjustments during the February 17 meeting to help fund major water infrastructure projects.
This is the third year of the proposed three?part water rate increase that began in 2024. These steps are part of our long?term planning to prepare for ongoing water shortages on the Colorado River. Completing this phase will help stabilize our utility funds, allowing any future increases, if needed, to be smaller, more predictable, and easier for customers to plan for.
Strengthening our water portfolio now ensures we can continue protecting Gilbert’s quality of life, even as regional water challenges intensify. To better understand the water challenges we face both statewide and locally, watch the in-depth video below that answers the questions you've asked and shows how your dollars are being spent.
To protect our water future, Gilbert has been investing in:
These investments ensure you have clean, safe drinking water that continues to flow to your home and every business in our community. There are 93 Capital Improvement Projects planned for the next decade and 46 are currently active. To reduce the impact on residents, the Town has reprioritized or deferred $239 million in projects, helping avoid a 55% rate increase.
The Town of Gilbert collaborates with AZCEND on Gilbert's Utility Bill Assistance Program which offers eligible households up to $360 per year to help reduce their utility costs.
Apply for Bill Assistance →
Water conservation is more important than ever and Gilbert offers a variety of programs from water check-ups to rebates to help you achieve your conservation goal and ultimately save you money on your utility bill.
Tips on How to Conserve Water →
Final charges for each customer vary by meter size and water consumption. Determine your specific new bill charges using this calculator. You may find your current water usage and meter size on your latest utility bill.
Launch Calculator →
The Town uses a professional firm to conduct an in-depth analysis of any proposed rates based on infrastructure and resource needs.
View Rate Study →
We're committed to keeping residents informed. Stay tuned for updates. Subscribe to Gilbert's newsletter for the latest information.
Frequently Asked Questions
Water treatment and supply are becoming more costly. Gilbert is working to secure water resources for our community amid ongoing Colorado River shortages. Infrastructure such as treatment plants, pipes, and wells age over time, with utility rates helping cover their upkeep and replacement. Additionally, inflation in labor, energy, materials, and chemicals continues to drive costs higher.
Gilbert uses a tiered rate system, where water becomes more expensive as your usage increases. This encourages conservation and keeps costs down for those who use less. In Gilbert, over half of bills issued in 2024 were in the lowest usage tier. On the other hand, 7% of Gilbert’s total water is used by fewer than 1,000 homes.
Yes. Developers pay their fair share of utility fees.
While apartment complexes consume more total water, individual homes have significantly higher water use per dwelling, mostly from outdoor activities, which account for 50-70% of their consumption. In Gilbert, single-family homes represent the majority of water use, with usage more than double that of all schools, businesses, government facilities, and multi-family residences combined. Additionally, when new homes, apartments, businesses are built in Gilbert, developers pay a System Development Fee, which buys into the capacity of our water system and helps pay for construction needed to expand those facilities and provide the development with water service.
Myth: Apartments use a huge amount of water, and that makes things more expensive for homeowners.
Fact: Single-family homes use more than 2/3 of Gilbert's water, and more than 17x as much as apartments/multi-family residences.
If you live in a single-family home, reducing outdoor use lowers your bill. It's also good for conservation since outdoor water can't be reclaimed.
Growth pays for growth, and impact fees cannot cover everyday needs such as repairs or updates beyond expansion. These fees cover the costs of necessary upgrades to our system as more people move in, such as wells. User fees are the monthly rates we all pay for the water we use. User fees pay for operations, maintenance, and existing debt service. These fees cannot be used to pay for expansions or other government services.
Impact Fees (System Development Fees)
Rates (User Fees)
For many years, Gilbert’s Town Council kept water costs flat. Looking back, this was a double-edged sword. On one hand, it meant that residents enjoyed years of steady, low rates. On the other hand, it means that now, as the cost of everything is rising, the Town has to make up revenue.
This doesn’t mean previous decision-making was careless. It means the timing is tough. No one could have foreseen the aggressive rise of inflation and other external economic factors beyond the Town’s control that drive up the cost of essential resources the community relies on.
Rather than going into a giant, abstract pot of money, each line item on your bill goes to paying for that specific service. Your water bill funds the water department, your trash bill funds the solid waste/recycling department, etc. Each of the Town's utility services operates as a self-sustaining business.
Water rates pay for:
Myth: My water bill is being used to fund new housing developments.
Fact: Water bills fund the Town's water service and nothing else. Real estate developers pay their fair share by paying a System Development Fee when they want to build in Gilbert.
Below is a breakdown of the monthly water charges based on consumption for customers with a ¾" meter (the standard size for a single-family home) and a 1" meter.
These water rates work like a tax bracket; the first 8,000 gallons you use are charged at the lowest rate, then the next 12,000 at a higher rate, and so on.
If you have talked with friends in Chandler, Tempe, or other nearby cities, you may have heard that their utility rates are lower than yours. To see them side by side, take a look at the charts below of annual water rates among Valley cities:
The current rates support the maintenance and upgrade of our aging infrastructure amid rising replacement costs. We are rebuilding the North Water Treatment Plant, the largest investment in Gilbert’s water system and essential for long-term water resilience. Once complete, it will supply 70% of Gilbert’s water needs, serving 250,000 residents and providing 60 million gallons daily.
In addition, Gilbert is investing in eight groundwater wells that will provide access to stored groundwater and back up supply to 73,000 residents.
A total of 20 wells are currently in our groundwater portfolio.
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