Calgary’s proposed 2027–2030 water utility rate plan could substantially increase operating costs for local businesses. City records establish the current charges and the rate direction under consideration, but final business-specific rates have not been approved.
At its October 5 meeting, city council’s executive committee endorsed a recommendation for annual water service increases of 19.9 per cent, wastewater increases of 15.2 per cent and stormwater increases of 5.8 per cent over four years, beginning in 2027. The committee’s recommendation is not itself the adoption of future utility rate bylaws.
These percentages refer to three different utility services. They cannot simply be added together or presented as the percentage increase on every commercial customer’s overall bill.
What the City charges businesses in 2026
The City classifies commercial, industrial and institutional accounts by water meter size. Regular-meter accounts have meters smaller than 75 millimetres, while large-meter accounts have meters of 75 millimetres or more.
For its regular-meter example, the City uses a 25 mm meter and 400 cubic metres of water per 30-day billing period. Its published 2026 charges are $680.67 for drinking water, $963.66 for wastewater and $17.00 for stormwater, totalling $1,661.33 monthly.
That total checks against the City’s underlying rates: (400 × $1.6265) + $30.07 = $680.67 for drinking water. For wastewater, the City’s example assumes 90 per cent of water is returned to the sewer system: (400 × 0.90 × $2.6117) + $23.45 = $963.66 when rounded to cents.
For the City's large-meter example, a 150 mm meter using 10,365 cubic metres per 30-day period generates $16,510.77 in drinking-water charges, $24,386.69 in wastewater charges and $17.00 for stormwater: $40,914.46 in total.
The City's large-meter calculation likewise checks out: (10,365 × $1.5404) + $544.52 = $16,510.77, rounded to cents. Wastewater is (10,365 × 0.90 × $2.6117) + $23.45 = $24,386.69, rounded to cents.
These are illustrative bills for two specified meter sizes and usage levels. They are not the average cost of water for every restaurant, retailer or industrial operation, and they exclude potential account-specific adjustments such as high-strength wastewater surcharges.
What four years of proposed rate increases mean
Annual increases compound. If the announced service-wide percentages were applied without modification for all four years, the cumulative mathematical increases would be approximately 106.7 per cent for drinking water, 76.1 per cent for wastewater and 25.3 per cent for stormwater. The calculation is (1 + annual rate)^4 − 1 for each service.
YYC24 also calculated a simple scenario using only the City's 2026 sample bills and the proposed annual service percentages. Under the assumption that every dollar of each sample water, wastewater and stormwater subtotal increases by exactly its respective percentage each year, the $1,661.33 regular-meter example would become approximately $3,125.24 in 2030. That is $1,463.91 more per 30-day billing period, or an 88.1 per cent increase.
Under the same simplifying assumptions, the $40,914.46 large-meter example would become approximately $77,094.01 in 2030. That is $36,179.55 more per billing period, or an 88.4 per cent increase.
IMPORTANT: These two 2030 figures are YYC24 mathematical illustrations, NOT projected City of Calgary bills, proposed business-specific rate schedules or confirmed future charges. The model assumes constant consumption, unchanged meter classifications and uniform annual increases across each service subtotal. The City's approved 2026 budget explicitly cautions that overall rate changes affect customer classes differently and vary with usage. Future fixed charges, customer-group cost allocations and other rate details may make real bills higher or lower than this illustration.
Why business impacts could differ
The City’s business rate schedules contain both fixed service charges and usage-based charges. The examples assume that 90 per cent of consumed water is returned as wastewater, but qualifying customers with effluent meters can have wastewater measured separately. Additional charges can apply to wastewater above specified strength limits.
The rate proposal also calls for each customer group to cover the full cost of the utility services it receives. That cost-recovery principle could affect the rate calculations for different types of accounts. Businesses with different meter sizes, wastewater characteristics or levels of water use should not assume either City example reflects their future bill.
Why the City is proposing higher rates
The committee’s water utility service plan identifies approximately $6.5 billion in capital investment over the planning period, including renewal and capacity work for aging water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure. The City says utility fees and levies, rather than municipal property taxes, fund these services, including their operating and capital requirements.
What happens next
The rates and the related cost-recovery direction still require full council consideration and subsequent budget and bylaw decisions. The City's published budget schedule lists November 10 for the proposed 2027–2030 budget release and November 23 for the start of public submissions. The ultimate commercial rate schedules should be checked against the bylaws council actually adopts.
For business owners, the most useful outstanding figures are the final rates by meter size, the fixed and usage-based portions of each bill, and the projected amounts at consistent water consumption. Until those details are confirmed, any 2030 sample amount derived from broad service-wide rate percentages must remain clearly labelled as an illustration.
City of Calgary sources and calculation method
YYC24's calculation method: for each sample bill, sum the City's published 2026 drinking-water, wastewater and stormwater subtotals; for the illustrative 2030 scenario multiply each subtotal by (1 + its proposed annual service-rate increase) to the fourth power; then add the three results. The displayed total is rounded only at the end. No commercial 2030 bill has been represented as an official City projection.
City of Calgary: 2026 business water rates and 25 mm / 150 mm sample bills
City of Calgary: approved 2026 budget, Water Utility Rates, page 30
City of Calgary: October 5 executive committee meeting record, EC2026-0905
City of Calgary: 2027–2030 budget consultation and calendar
City of Calgary: water utility rates and infrastructure funding