Madison, WI Water & Sewer Connection Fees (2026)

In Madison, Madison Water Utility supplies the water, the City’s Engineering Division runs the local sewers, and the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) treats the wastewater. A new single-family home on an existing street with a 5/8-inch meter pays $414 in published connection charges: the $110 water service application and inspection fee, the $84 water meter charge, the City’s $120 one-time sewer use charge and the $100 sewer connection permit fee. Madison has no citywide water or sewer impact fee and no flat tap fee. The caveat is location. Lots in one of the City’s sewer impact fee districts pay an extra charge based on land area. Land where MMSD’s connection charges were never paid owes those too, and across MMSD’s sewer basins they run from $211.03 to $419.58 per 1,000 square feet of land in 2026.

Madison connection fees at a glance

The table lists every Madison row in our database with its source. The four charges in the lead are the ones a typical new house pays. The meter and sewer use charges come from Madison Water Utility’s meter application fee schedule effective May 1, 2026, and both depend on meter size. The other rows apply only in some cases: MMSD’s area charges by sewer basin, the City’s sewer impact fee districts, work billed at actual cost, and MGE’s electric charges. The impact fee rows are marked for review because the ordinance states each rate in base-year dollars and raises it every January 1, so the 2026 amount is higher.

Worked example for a single-family home in Madison

Assume one new house with a water service and a sewer lateral connecting to existing City mains in the street. The first two cases are an infill lot where MMSD’s charges were paid long ago and no impact fee district applies. The third is a lot in the Pumpkin Hollow sewer impact fee district. The fourth is land whose MMSD charges are still unpaid. Both of those use an 8,000-square-foot lot.

Published Madison Water Utility, City of Madison and MMSD charges for one new single-family home. Plumber, excavation and street work are extra.

The Pumpkin Hollow figure is 8 × $60.60, the rate set in Madison General Ordinances section 20.08(12) in September 2024 dollars. The 2026 inflation-adjusted amount is higher. The MMSD figure is 8 × $227.35. That is the 2026 Nine Springs Valley combined rate: a $58.49 conveyance charge plus the $168.86 treatment plant charge, from MMSD’s 2026 connection charge schedule. MMSD bills these charges to the City by land area, and its guidance says they generally must be paid before an area develops, so on most lots they were settled years ago or when the subdivision was created. MMSD’s Paid Areas Viewer on its connection charges page shows whether a parcel has paid.

Other basins differ: $228.24 per 1,000 square feet in the East basin, $255.97 in the Southwest basin and $411.51 in Lower Badger Mill Creek on the far west side.

What is not included in Madison fees

Madison’s published fees are small, but the owner also pays the actual cost of the pipe work, and that usually costs more than the fees:

• Water service lateral. Under Schedule Cz-1 of the utility’s PSC-approved water rate file, the owner’s contractor installs a regular 1- to 2-inch lateral from the main through the curb stop, usually 8 feet into the right-of-way, and a utility inspector must be present. National estimate: $30–$150 per foot, typically about $50, including trenching. See water service line cost.
• Sewer lateral. Section 35.02(4)(c)5 puts all costs of the building sewer on the owner. If City forces install the lateral, the owner is billed the actual cost plus 10% as a special tax on the property. National estimate: $50–$250 per foot, typically about $100, including trenching. See sewer lateral cost.
• Street cuts. Work in the right-of-way needs an Engineering excavation permit. National estimate for a street cut or bore with pavement restoration: $1,000–$10,000, typically about $4,000 per crossing (see utility trenching cost).
• Electric service. MGE installs a single-phase service drop or underground lateral at no charge for the first 120 feet over the route it chooses, and it provides the meter and transformer (MGE electric rules, Sheets E-20.6.3 and E-20.6.4). Extra footage costs an incremental per-foot amount that the rate book does not list. Temporary construction power is $111.

National figures are estimates from our benchmark set. Enter your contractor’s quotes in the calculator, which loads Madison’s official fees:

When you pay Madison connection fees

A master plumber files two applications with Madison Water Utility. The first is the Water Service Connection application, which needs the owner’s signature, a site utility plan and the $110 fee for a live tap of 2 inches or smaller. Larger taps and cut-ins require deposits of $4,000 and $1,000. The second is the Water Meter application, paid at the meter-size rate. The utility asks for 10 business days to process each one and 3 business days’ notice to schedule the tap, inspection or meter installation. Applications expire after two years.

The sewer use charge is collected with the meter application. It covers sewer use during construction, before the meter is in. The $100 sewer permit fee is paid to City Engineering, and the Engineer may accept the building permit application as the sewer application. Sewer impact fees are due when the building permit is issued, at the rate in effect that year, unless the developer paid earlier at plat recording. After connection, the utility maintains the water lateral from the main through the curb stop. The owner maintains the line from the curb stop to the house.

Madison fee changes to watch

• Water rates. The Public Service Commission approved Madison Water Utility’s rate case (docket 3280-WR-117), and new rates took effect May 1, 2026. The meter charges above are the updated amounts.
• MMSD charges. The treatment plant charge reached its final phased-in rate of $168.86 per 1,000 square feet on January 1, 2026. MMSD updates its conveyance charges each year.
• Impact fees. Each district’s rate rises every January 1 with a construction cost index. Ask City Engineering (608-266-4751) for the current adjusted rate.
• Water service fee. The $110 fee comes from the October 2025 version of the application form. Confirm it when you apply.

How Madison compares with Minneapolis

Both cities split the work between a city utility and a regional wastewater agency, but they charge in different ways. Minneapolis charges a new house $2,805 in published fees. Most of that is the Metropolitan Council’s $2,485 Sewer Availability Charge, collected per home at permit. Madison’s regional agency charges by land area instead, and the charge is usually paid before anyone builds on the lot. A Madison infill house therefore pays about $414, roughly one-seventh of the Minneapolis figure. On land that still owes MMSD charges, the gap gets smaller.

Madison connection fee FAQ

Related: Minneapolis fees · Omaha fees · Kansas City fees · Columbus fees · sewer tap fees · water tap fees · tap fee vs. impact fee · water meter installation cost · utility connection cost calculator

Madison fee sources

• Water meter application charges effective May 1, 2026, Madison Water Utility (checked Sep 25, 2026)
• Application for Water Service Connection, form version 10/2025, Madison Water Utility (checked Sep 25, 2026)
• Plumbers and contractors: new installation and service changes, Madison Water Utility (checked Sep 25, 2026)
• Water rate file, PSCW docket 3280-WR-117 (Schedules Cz-1, X-1, X-2, X-3), Madison Water Utility and Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (checked Sep 25, 2026)
• Madison General Ordinances Chapter 35, The Public Sewerage System (checked Sep 25, 2026)
• Madison General Ordinances Chapter 20, Impact Fee Ordinance (checked Sep 25, 2026)
• Impact fees and district map, City of Madison Engineering (checked Sep 25, 2026)
• MMSD Connection Charge Rates, 2026 (Resolution 2025-10-30-R7), Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District (checked Sep 25, 2026)
• Connection charges and sanitary sewer extension charges, MMSD (checked Sep 25, 2026)
• MGE Electric Rates and Rules, Sheets E-2.1 and E-20.6, Madison Gas and Electric (checked Sep 25, 2026)