Oceanside residents and business owners can expect a bump in water and sewer rates beginning Jan. 1 under a proposal headed to the Oceanside City Council for approval in September.
The city’s Water Utilities Department has proposed an average 6% increase for water rates across all categories of users in 2026 and the same amount again in 2027, and 4% more each year for sewer rates, officials said Tuesday.
“If rates don’t increase, we have to use our reserves,” said John McKelvey, a principal management analyst, at a meeting of the city’s Water Utilities Commission. “When reserves are gone … it’s a bad situation.”
The commission voted 4-0, with three members absent, to recommend the City Council’s approval.
The proposed increase reflects higher costs for labor, supplies, maintenance, and charges passed along from the city’s two suppliers — San Diego County Water Authority and the Metropolitan Water District.
Along with the rate increases, three other charges will be passed along to water users if the water department’s request is approved.
One is the “ready for service” charge from Metropolitan, the Los Angeles-based giant utility that delivers water to most of Southern California, including San Diego County. That fee covers the costs of construction and maintenance for infrastructure such as water reservoirs to store emergency backup supplies. Now 61 cents monthly per water meter, that charge will increase by 5 cents in 2026 and another 5 cents in 2027.
The County Water Authority charges a similar infrastructure fee of $4.55 per meter monthly. The county’s fee will remain the same in 2026 and increase to $4.89 monthly in 2027.
Largest of the pass-through fees is the County Water Authority’s surcharge of $3.47 per unit of water. A unit of water is 100 cubic feet, and the average single-family household uses about 10 units monthly. That surcharge, which is a “pass-through” of fees charged to the county by other agencies, will increase to $4.35 per unit in 2026 and $4.99 per unit in 2027, according to a city staff report.
The typical single-family home with a monthly water bill of $92.88 this year can expect the bill to be $105.27 monthly in 2026 and $115.32 a month in 2027, according to a city staff report. The typical family’s monthly sewer bill of $59.22 this year will go to $61.60 monthly in 2026 and $64.07 in 2027.
Commercial, agricultural and other users pay different rates based on the size of their connections to the system, the amount of water they consume and other factors.
Even with the increases, Oceanside residents will pay less than 2 cents per gallon for tap water, McKelvey said.
In June, the County Water Authority board approved an 8.3% increase in the rates it charges its member agencies, including Oceanside. Some cities don’t pass along the entire increase to their ratepayers and find other ways, such as grants, to cover the costs.