Learn about water rates and trends in Surrey and in Metro Vancouver.

Property owners in Surrey who are on an annual flat rate receive a yearly Property Tax Bill in February, which includes the utilities portion of water and sewer use for that calendar year.

Property owners who have a water meter are billed three times a year according to their water usage.

Water Metering Rates

 

Metro Vancouver Wholesale Price ($/m3)

 

Metered Rate ($/m3)

Year Winter Rate Summer Rate Year-Round Rate
2010 0.4505 0.5631 0.4972
2011 0.5135 0.6419 0.5650
2012 0.5437 0.6796 0.6407
2013 0.5504 0.6880 0.6880
2014 0.5724 0.7155 0.8708
2015 0.5816 0.7270 0.8950
2016 0.5926 0.7407 0.9300
2017 0.6113 0.7641 0.9660
2018 0.635 0.7938 1.0040
2019 0.6719 0.8399 1.0533
2020

0.7119

0.8899 1.1064
2021 0.7119 0.9546  1.1433
2022 0.7119 1.0371 1.1863

Note: Summer rate applies to water purchased from June to September, inclusively.

Water Rate Trends

Water rate trends indicate that both the annual flat rate and metered water rate have seen a steady increase in the last 11 years.

These rate increases are the result of Metro Vancouver's significant and ongoing drinking water facility upgrades, which have led to the wholesale water rate increase year over year.

Summary of Rates

Metered Rates

Metered rates are charged based on the consumption recorded by the meter installed at the property. When a meter is installed at the dwelling, owners pay for what they consume on their property.

A metered rate has two components to it:

  1. The first component is the portion that Metro Vancouver charges for delivering water to the boundaries of the City.
  2. The second component is the cost to the City to deliver the water from the boundaries to each property.

Together, these components make up the metered rate.

Annual Flat Rates

Annual flat rates are charged on existing homes built prior to 1998, which do not have a water meter. In the past, when the unit cost of water production was low, the fixed cost of providing water service to the consumers made up the major portion of water utilities' operation cost.

The cost of providing water service was spread evenly among all residential dwelling units, regardless of the type of dwelling, number of persons per dwelling unit, or their water consumption. As such, single family, town home, apartment and condominium units paid the same flat rate.