Utilities Rates FY2027

City of Columbia Utilities is committed to providing high-quality service to our residential and commercial customers.

For decades, City of Columbia Utilities has strived to provide this service at a reasonable cost. However, rising operations and maintenance costs mean we have to adjust our rates in order to continue investing in our infrastructure.

For the Fiscal Year 2027 budget, City of Columbia Utilities is proposing rate adjustments for our Electric, Water, Solid Waste and Sewer Utilities.

The Columbia City Council will hold a public hearing on the rate proposal at the scheduled Council meeting Aug. 3. The meeting starts at 6 p.m.

These proposed adjustments are designed to align the cost of providing the service with the rate charged while minimizing the impact of these changes on your Utility bills. As proposed, these rate adjustments will allow City of Columbia Utilities to make major investments to maintain reliability and comply with national regulations. Structuring the rates in this way now will help us to remain fiscally responsible and minimize rate increases in the future.

Based on City of Columbia averages, customers would see an approximately $10 to $15 increase on their monthly bills. Because each customer’s rates are dependent on usage, customers should look at their own usage to determine how rate adjustments will impact them. Customers can view their usage and past bills at MyUtilityBill.CoMo.gov.

Electric rate adjustment

The Electric Utility is asking for a 6% increase on usage fees, but the customer charge will not change. The proposed change is expected to increase the Utility’s revenue by $8.6 million, which will help cover increases in employee compensation, capacity and energy purchase costs, and high-priority infrastructure projects.

Read more to see a breakdown of these different charges and how the proposed changes will impact customers. Explanation of charges

Water rate adjustment

The Water Utility has proposed a 10% increase in base fees and usage fees as outlined in Stantec Consulting’s cost-of-service study presented in 2025. The proposed change is expected to increase the Utility’s revenue by $3.4 million, which will be used to continue needed capital improvement projects in the water system. After the rate adjustments in FY26, bills for customers who have consistent water usage year-round will still be lower than in FY25.

Read more to see a breakdown of these different charges and how the proposed changes will impact customers. Explanation of charges

Solid Waste rate adjustment

The proposed rate adjustments in Solid Waste are expected to garner a $1.5 million revenue increase for FY27. Recommendations include planned 10% increases in FY 28 and FY29 and 5% increases in the following years.

The proposed rate adjustments for residents with curbside roll cart collection would realign fees with the cost of service over the next two fiscal years.

The fees for multi-family residences with bulk containers will also change. For sites where customers pay, the fee will increase from $15.72 to $16.74. For buildings where the landlord pays, the fees will increase from $15.45 to $16.26.

Commercial customers’ fees are based on the size of the container and the frequency of collections. Read more to see the proposed changes for different charges. Explanation of charges

Customers in the Downtown Community Improvement District (CID) are charged based on the classification of the business. Downtown CID rate adjustment implementation will be delayed until staff can complete a downtown occupant audit.

Sewer rate adjustments

The proposed rate adjustments for the Sewer Utility are not expected to increase revenue in FY27. However, planned future adjustments in the next two years will increase revenue by 3.25%. In the proposed changes, residential customers will have their base charge decreased from $12.37 to $11.10. Volume charges will increase from $2.55 per CCF to $2.68 per CCF. It is estimated that customers who use 9 CCF or less per month will see their Sewer bills decrease. For non-residential customers, the size of the water meter and water usage are on Page 1 of the Utilities bill.