CFPUA Water & Sewer Tap and System Development Charges: Wilmington, NC (2026)

In Wilmington, the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) provides both water and sewer. With a standard 5/8-inch meter on a lot where the developer’s contractor built the services, the fiscal 2027 total is $6,050: a $2,270 water system development charge, a $3,465 sewer system development charge and a $315 meter set fee (CFPUA Rates and Fees Schedule FY 26-27, effective July 1, 2026). If CFPUA installs the water and sewer connections itself instead, the meter set fee comes off and a $2,463 water connection and a $2,928 sewer connection go on. That total is $11,126. Meter size is the other thing to settle early. A plain 1-inch meter raises both system development charges by 2.5 times, but a 1-inch meter that is required only for a home fire sprinkler system is charged the 5/8-inch rate.

Wilmington connection fees at a glance

The table lists every CFPUA row we verified from the FY2027 schedule. Three kinds of charge matter most. System development charges (SDCs) are CFPUA’s buy-in to capacity that already exists. North Carolina authorizes them under G.S. Chapter 162A, Article 8, and CFPUA’s ordinance says they are based on meter size and due when you apply for new service. Connection fees apply only when CFPUA crews install the water or sewer service. The meter set fee applies instead when a licensed contractor installed the water service and CFPUA only supplies and sets the meter (Ordinance Sec. 1-97(2)). The calculator below starts from the contractor-built case ($6,050 at 5/8 inch). It lists the sewer connection fee, which applies only when CFPUA installs the sewer service, together with the deposit, new-account and plan review rows as other published fees outside that total.

Worked example: a new home in Wilmington

Assumptions: one detached house inside CFPUA’s water and sewer service area, one domestic meter, FY2027 charges (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027), and a 4-inch sewer service where CFPUA installs it. No separate irrigation meter.

One-time CFPUA charges for one house, by scenario (source: CFPUA Rates and Fees Schedule FY 26-27).

The arithmetic: A is $2,270 + $3,465 + $315 = $6,050. B is $2,270 + $3,465 + $2,463 + $2,928 = $11,126. C is $5,675 + $8,663 + $415 = $14,753. D is $2,270 + $3,465 + $415 = $6,150.

Scenario C shows why the meter decision matters so much here. Going from 5/8 inch to a plain 1 inch adds $8,603 in system development charges alone. A contractor installing a residential fire sprinkler system that needs a 1-inch meter adds only $100, the gap between the $415 and $315 meter set fees.

One point we could not settle from the schedule. It lists a single water connection fee, for a 1-inch service, and the ordinance ties the meter set fee to contractor-installed services, while Sec. 1-5(c) has the applicant pay the connection fee “for the service and meter.” We read that to mean the $2,463 covers the meter when CFPUA does the installation, and scenario B is built that way. Confirm it with CFPUA Customer Service (910-332-6550) before you budget.

How Wilmington compares with Raleigh and Charlotte

On a developer-built lot CFPUA costs more than Raleigh and slightly less than Charlotte. When the utility installs both services, it is the cheapest of the three.

Official one-time water and sewer charges, single-family home, 5/8-inch meter, FY2027 (Raleigh and Charlotte figures from our Raleigh and Charlotte tap fee pages).

The pattern comes from two sources. CFPUA’s capacity charges are the heaviest part of its bill: $5,735 in combined SDCs at 5/8 inch, against $3,670 in capital facility fees in Raleigh ($1,447 + $2,223) and $6,519 in system development fees in Charlotte ($1,453 + $5,066). Its installation charges are the lightest: $5,391 for both services, compared with $10,911 in Raleigh ($5,756 + $5,155) and $10,851 in Charlotte ($4,407 + $6,444). (Raleigh’s tap is priced for a 3/4-inch service.)

What Wilmington’s fees don’t cover

CFPUA’s charges cover capacity, the meter and, where CFPUA does the work, the service connection to the property. Your builder or plumber prices the private side of the connection separately:

• Water service line from the meter to the house: $30 to $150 per foot, about $50 typical, trenching included (national estimate). A 60-foot run at $50 is about $3,000.
• Sewer lateral from the house to the cleanout or tap: $50 to $250 per foot, about $100 typical, trenching included (national estimate). Sixty feet at $100 is about $6,000.
• Plumbing permit for the exterior lines, issued through New Hanover County: $100 to $1,300, about $300 typical (national estimate).

These ranges come from our national benchmark set and assume normal soil. See water service line cost, sewer lateral cost and utility trenching cost. No electric line-extension charge is included on this page. For the bigger picture, see our guide to the cost to connect to city water. Add the private work to CFPUA’s charges here:

Paying Wilmington fees: timing and process

CFPUA’s Development Process & Procedures Manual (June 2024) sets the order. After the plat is recorded and the lot has an address, you open a CFPUA utility account online or at a CFPUA Customer Service Center. New Hanover County runs the building permit program for both the City of Wilmington and the unincorporated county. CFPUA signs off on the permit only after the account is set up and the applicable fees are paid, usually within 10 business days.

The ordinance adds the payment points. SDCs are due at the application for new service, and connection fees are paid or financed on application, before CFPUA installs anything (CFPUA Ordinance Sec. 1-97). When the plumbing is ready, the plumbing contractor schedules the meter set with Customer Service at 910-332-6550. If the work is incomplete or not to CFPUA standards, the meter set is rescheduled and a $60 premise visit fee is charged for each additional visit. The initial inspection of contractor-installed connections is free, and a repeat initial inspection is $60.

New accounts also pay a $60 new service charge, and single-family residential customers may be asked for a $200 deposit, adjusted for the services provided and payment history. Neither is in the totals above. The owner of an improved property where a CFPUA sewer line is available but not connected pays a monthly availability charge of $18.11 for a 5/8-inch service.

Wilmington fee changes to watch

CFPUA adopts a new rates and fees schedule with each budget, effective July 1. Comparing the FY2026 schedule with FY2027: the connection fees rose on July 1, 2025, from $2,239 to $2,463 for water and from $2,662 to $2,928 for sewer, and held flat on July 1, 2026. The system development charges ($2,270 water, $3,465 sewer at 5/8 inch) did not change across FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027. If your service application will fall after June 30, 2027, check the FY2028 schedule on CFPUA’s Current Rates & Fees page.

Wilmington connection fee questions

More on Wilmington and nearby cities

Compare Wilmington with Raleigh, Charlotte and Concord on the North Carolina utility connection costs hub, or see the national tap fees by city table. Background: tap fee vs. impact fee, sewer tap fees, water meter installation cost and utility costs for new construction. For a full budget, use the utility connection cost calculator.

Wilmington fee sources

• Rates and Fees Schedule FY 26-27 (effective July 1, 2026), Cape Fear Public Utility Authority. Water, sewer and miscellaneous fee sections. Checked Sep 24, 2026.
• Rates and Fees Schedule FY 25-26 (effective July 1, 2025), Cape Fear Public Utility Authority. Used for year-over-year changes. Checked Sep 24, 2026.
• Current Rates & Fees, Cape Fear Public Utility Authority. Checked Sep 24, 2026.
• CFPUA Code of Ordinances, Chapter 1, Secs. 1-5 and 1-97 (Municode, codified through March 9, 2022). Checked Sep 24, 2026.
• Development Process & Procedures Manual (June 2024), Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, Section 8. Checked Sep 24, 2026.
• National cost estimates: Utility Cost Guide benchmark methodology.