City of Fresno Water Capacity Fees and Sewer Connection Charges (2026)

Inside the City of Fresno, the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) provides both water and sewer service, and its connection charges are set in the Public Utilities section of the city’s Master Fee Schedule. A new single-family home on a lot under 20,000 sq ft, with the 1-inch service the schedule sets as the residential minimum, pays about $10,466 in city water and sewer connection charges under the schedule effective July 1, 2026: the $5,686.83 water capacity fee, $2,241 to install the meter and service, the $2,119 wastewater facilities charge and a $419 trunk sewer charge. The key local caveat is that several sewer and water charges depend on the parcel: its trunk sewer area, when its map vested, and whether the lot has already paid for the mains in front of it. For how this compares nationally, see our guide to the cost to connect to city water.

Official Fresno fees in one table

Every row below comes from the DPU pages of the City of Fresno Master Fee Schedule (MFS Amendment #590, fees effective July 1, 2026). They fall into three groups. The water capacity fee and the wastewater facilities sewer charge are the capacity charges, and they make up most of the bill. The meter and service installation charge is the city’s price for making the tap and setting the meter. The rest are location charges (trunk sewer area, lateral sewer, oversize and frontage charges, the Copper Avenue lift station fee) that only some lots pay. The table lists all three capacity-fee meter sizes and all four trunk sewer areas; a home pays one of each.

Worked example for a single-family home in Fresno

Assumptions: a detached house on a vacant lot with no existing city service, a map that vested after December 30, 1995 (so the Phase 1b wastewater facilities charge applies), and a lot whose frontage and lateral sewer charges were already paid when the subdivision was built. The schedule sets the minimum residential service at 1 inch for lots under 20,000 sq ft and 1-1/2 inch for lots of 20,000 sq ft or more. Three cases:

Estimated City of Fresno DPU connection charges, fees effective July 1, 2026

A home in the Fowler trunk sewer area pays $344 instead, which brings case A to $10,390.83. A lot whose map vested between October 25, 1992 and December 30, 1995 pays the Phase 1a wastewater charge of $1,910, which is $209 less.

If the lot has not already paid for the mains, the parcel-based charges are added. For a 50-by-100-foot lot (5,000 sq ft), the lateral sewer charge of $0.10 per sq ft comes to $500, the oversize charge of $0.05 per sq ft to $250, and the water frontage charge of $6.50 per front foot to $325. That is $1,075 more, or $11,540.83 for case A. Both per-square-foot charges count lot depth only up to 100 feet. A lot in the Copper Avenue sewer lift station benefit area adds $650 per dwelling unit.

What is not included in Fresno fees

The city’s service installation includes the tap, service line, corporation stop, curb stop and fittings, and the meter when the two are installed together. The private water line from the meter to the house, the private sewer lateral, any street work by your contractor and the building department’s plumbing permit are extra. If DPU installs the house branch sewer connection, the schedule bills it at contract cost plus 100 percent, plus $10 and 10 percent for inspection. National estimates (methodology), which already include trenching:

• Water line from meter to house: $30–$150 per foot, typical $50. At 40 feet, about $2,000.
• Sewer lateral: $50–$250 per foot, typical $100. At 50 feet, about $5,000.
• Street cut and pavement restoration: $1,000–$10,000 per crossing, typical $4,000.
• Plumbing permit for the connection work: $100–$1,300, typical $300.

City development impact fees are also separate from the utility charges. The Planning and Development section of the same fee schedule lists, per single-family home, a $2,286.13 citywide fire impact fee, a $5,110.55 park fee (facility plus Quimby land fee) and a $762.39 traffic signal mitigation fee, and street impact fees by gross acre. School district fees and PG&E electric and gas service are also outside these totals; we did not collect PG&E’s line-extension figures for this page.

When you pay Fresno connection fees

The fee schedule sets amounts, not the payment point, so confirm with DPU and the Planning and Development Department when each charge is invoiced for your permit. Two related points are written into the schedule:

• Existing homes can defer. Existing single-family residences anywhere in the city’s service area can defer sewer connection charges under Fresno Municipal Code 6-305(c), with interest on the unpaid balance for up to 15 years at 2 percent above the city’s pooled cash rate or the legal maximum, whichever is less. Water connection charges use the same deferment terms. This matters most for homes switching from a septic system; see septic vs. sewer cost.
• Meter on an existing service. If a service line is already in the ground, the city charges $330 to add a 1-inch meter instead of $2,241 for a new service and meter.

For an accessory dwelling unit, the Planning section’s footnotes say ADUs under 750 sq ft are not charged the city’s development impact fees listed there, and larger ADUs pay the multi-family rate. The DPU pages do not include a separate ADU rule for water or sewer charges. California’s rules for utility fees on ADUs are covered in our ADU utility connection fee guide.

What could change in Fresno

• The water capacity fee is adjusted every July 1 by the Engineering News-Record 20-City Construction Cost Index, so the amounts above apply through June 30, 2027. A permit pulled after July 1, 2027 will likely see a different figure.
• Parcels in Fresno’s Urban Growth Management (UGM) areas can owe added charges. The Planning section lists a UGM trunk sewer charge for the Millbrook Overlay Sewer Service Area of $240 to $695 per gross acre, and the DPU schedule refers other UGM trunk sewer fees to the Development Department. We have not verified any UGM water-area charges, so they are not in the totals.

Fresno connection fee questions

How Fresno compares

Fresno’s city utility charges are lower than those of the two other large California cities we track. In Sacramento, the city’s Department of Utilities charges total about $20,466 for a new home outside the combined sewer area and $23,732 inside it, before any Regional San fees. In San Diego, city and County Water Authority charges come to about $15,274 for a 1-inch by 3/4-inch meter. Fresno’s roughly $10,466 is about half of Sacramento’s lower figure. The comparison covers utility connection charges only; development impact fees, school fees and contractor work are extra in all three cities.

tap fees by city · sewer connection cost · tap fee vs. impact fee · new construction utility costs · utility connection cost calculator

Sources for Fresno figures

• Master Fee Schedule, Public Utilities Department section (MFS Amendment #590, fees effective 07/01/2026), City of Fresno. Checked Sep 25, 2026.
• Master Fee Schedule, Planning and Development section (fees effective 07/01/2026), City of Fresno. Checked Sep 25, 2026.