Philadelphia Water Department Tap Fees and PWD Connection Charges (2026)

The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) supplies both water and sewer service to nearly every address in the city, and it publishes its connection charges in one place: its own “Rates and Charges” tariff, effective September 1, 2026. For a typical new single-family home — a standard 3/4-inch ferrule tap with a 5/8-inch meter, a standard 5-inch or 6-inch sewer lateral connection, and the Utility Plan Review that Philadelphia’s Administrative Code requires before L&I will issue a building permit — PWD’s own numbers add up to $1,345: a $245 water connection (ferrule) charge, a $360 meter charge, a $375 sewer connection permit fee, and a $365 Utility Plan Review fee. The most important local wrinkle: PWD’s own connection-pipe rule sets a 3/4-inch minimum tap size, and its fee table doesn’t offer a 5/8-inch ferrule at all — so even a home with the smallest standard meter still pays the 3/4-inch tap rate, not a smaller one.

Philadelphia connection fees at a glance

Every row below comes from two PWD documents: the “Rates and Charges” tariff (water connection/ferrule charges, meter charges, and the Utility Plan Review fee, all effective September 1, 2026) and Chapter 5 of PWD’s Regulations, “Sewer and Wastewater Control” (Section 504.14, sewer connection permit fees). Read it in three groups: the water connection (ferrule) charges are set by tap size, from 3/4 inch up to 2 inches; the meter charges are set by meter size, since PWD furnishes and installs every meter itself; and the sewer connection permit fees are set by connection method, with the 5-inch/6-inch core-drilled connection as the standard for a single-family lateral. A handful of surcharge rows (after-hours work, re-inspection, prohibited-connection approval) only apply in specific, non-routine situations, which each row’s notes explain.

Worked example for a single-family home in Philadelphia

Assumptions: a lot inside Philadelphia with a water main and sewer main already in the street, a routine residential connection (not a subdivision or a project needing a non-standard connection method), and PWD crews performing the tap and setting the meter during regular business hours. PWD’s Chapter 4 regulations set a 3/4-inch minimum for the water connection pipe and state it should match the meter size “except as otherwise provided” — and because PWD’s ferrule-connection table starts at 3/4 inch with no 5/8-inch row, a standard 5/8-inch-metered home is billed the 3/4-inch tap rate.

Estimated PWD charges, single-family, routine residential connection (Rates and Charges, effective Sept. 1, 2026; PWD Regulations Chapter 5, Section 504.14)

Case A is the standard single-family setup and the total this page leads with. Case B shows what changes if a larger home needs a 1-inch tap and meter instead: $185 more, all in the water-side charges, since the sewer connection fee and the Utility Plan Review fee don’t vary by water meter size. If PWD requires a non-standard sewer connection method instead of the standard core-drilled 5-inch/6-inch tie-in — an 8-inch saddle connection ($560) or an 8-inch wye connection ($665) — the sewer line of the table rises by $185 or $290, which is the only variable PWD’s schedule ties to the sewer connection itself rather than to the water side.

What PWD’s connection charge does and doesn’t cover

The $245 ferrule fee pays PWD to make the physical tap at the water main and install the ferrule fitting. It does not pay for the pipe from that ferrule to the house: PWD’s own Chapter 4 regulations state the property owner, at their own expense and through a licensed master plumber, must excavate for the connection and install all piping and appurtenances after the ferrule. The same split applies on the sewer side — the $375 permit fee is for PWD’s review and inspection of the connection to the public sewer, not for the private lateral pipe itself, which a licensed plumber installs separately.

What is not included in Philadelphia fees

PWD’s tariff and regulations cover the tap, the meter, the sewer connection permit, and the Utility Plan Review. They do not cover the water service line or sewer lateral pipe itself, trenching and backfill, or the plumbing permit that Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses and Inspections issues separately from PWD. We found no PWD-published system capacity fee, impact fee, or connection charge beyond the rows above in either the Rates and Charges tariff or PWD’s Regulations — that doesn’t rule one out, it means we couldn’t find one in the documents PWD has published where we could read it. National estimates (methodology):

• Water service line: $30–$150 per foot, typical $50. At 50 feet, about $2,500.
• Sewer service line/lateral: $50–$250 per foot, typical $100. At 50 feet, about $5,000.
• Street cut or bore: $1,000–$10,000 per crossing, typical $4,000.
• Plumbing permit: $100–$1,300, typical $300.

How and when Philadelphia fees are paid

PWD’s published review-timeline guidance lays out the sequence: an applicant submits a Utility Plan, which PWD reviews (budgeted at about 8 weeks), then converts to a formal Water Connection Permit and/or Sewer Connection Permit application (about 2 more weeks). Only after the plan is approved does the PWD Permit Unit email an invoice for the connection and permit charges; the applicant pays that invoice before picking up the permits, not at the time of the initial application. Once permits are issued and installation is scheduled, PWD’s own crews perform the water tap and set the meter — PWD states this takes 5 to 7 business days for a connection of 2 inches or smaller (the size range that covers every residential case on this page), or 10 to 12 weeks for a 4-inch or larger connection. Counting the plan review, permit conversion, payment, and installation steps together, PWD’s guidance puts the full water-connection process at roughly 3 to 5 months and the sewer-only process at roughly 13 weeks. Contact PWD Development Services (215-685-0798, PWD_DevServices@phila.gov) to confirm the sequence and current wait times for a specific address.

What could change in Philadelphia

• PWD’s “Rates and Charges” document took effect September 1, 2026 and states so on its face; PWD’s Rate Board (a City body separate from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission) sets these rates and runs its own public rate-proceeding process, so confirm the current amount before paying if you’re reading this well after that date.
• The sewer connection permit fees come from Chapter 5 of PWD’s Regulations, a document that (unlike the Rates and Charges tariff) carries no fee-specific effective date printed in the section itself; PWD’s Regulations index page lists the current full regulations document as dated July 1, 2026. Confirm the $375/$560/$665 figures are still current with PWD’s Permit Desk (215-685-3015) before budgeting.
• We found no PWD-published system capacity fee, impact fee, or connection charge beyond the tap, meter, sewer permit, and Utility Plan Review rows on this page. If PWD assesses one for new single-family construction, it wasn’t in the documents we could read as of September 26, 2026 — ask PWD Development Services before you assume $1,345 is the full cost.

Philadelphia connection fee questions

Related guides for Philadelphia

For other large Northeast/Mid-Atlantic cities with their own published fee schedules, see Pittsburgh Water’s $570 standard connection and Columbus’s water and sewer capacity charges.

tap fees by city · water tap fee · sewer tap fee · utility extension cost · water meter installation cost · utility connection cost calculator

Philadelphia fee sources

• Rates and Charges, Effective September 1, 2026, Philadelphia Water Department — Section 6.2 (water meter charges), Section 6.7 (water connection/ferrule charges), Section 8.3 (Utility Plan Review fee). Checked Sep 26, 2026.
• PWD Regulations, Chapter 5: Sewer and Wastewater Control, Philadelphia Water Department — Section 504.14 (sewer connection fees), Section 504.7 (minimum lateral size). Checked Sep 26, 2026.
• PWD Regulations, Chapter 4: Water, Philadelphia Water Department — Section 400.1 (connection pipe sizing), Section 400.2 (owner responsibility for piping past the ferrule), Section 401.1 (metering requirement). Checked Sep 26, 2026.
• Water, Sewer, & Hydrant Connections, Philadelphia Water Department, Development Services. Checked Sep 26, 2026.
• Review Timelines, Philadelphia Water Department, Development Services — process sequence and payment timing for Water and Sewer Connection Permits. Checked Sep 26, 2026.
• Rates, Philadelphia Water Department — links to the current tariff and the Philadelphia Water, Sewer, and Storm Water Rate Board. Checked Sep 26, 2026.