What You Need to Know About St. Pete's Recent Utility Rate Changes

What You Need to Know About St. Pete's Recent Utility Rate Changes

October 24, 2025 - St. Pete utility rates and charges are evaluated and, upon City Council approval, are updated each year. On Oct. 1, 2025, adjustments to water, wastewater, reclaimed water, stormwater, and sanitation utility rates and charges went into effect. Here's what utility customers need to know.

Why Rates Are Adjusted

Utility fees support the continued efforts to ensure the reliability and resilience of St. Pete's water resources, sanitation, and stormwater utilities. These fees fund essential operations, routine maintenance, and critical capital infrastructure improvements across the city's utility systems.

Much of St. Pete's infrastructure has reached or exceeded its original design lifespan, making sustained investment crucial. Updated utility rates help fund multi-year projects aimed at modernizing time-worn systems, preventing service disruptions, and reducing the risk of costly emergency repairs.

Additionally, in response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, the City launched the St. Pete Agile Resilience Plan (SPAR) to accelerate resiliency projects designed to harden the city's infrastructure. These projects are key to strengthening the city's infrastructure against continued challenges such as sea level rise, stronger storms, and flooding. More information and a full list of SPAR projects are available at https://www.stpete.org/SPAR.

What Utility Fees Support

Utility fees support costs associated with the operations, maintenance, and infrastructure needs of the City's drinking water, wastewater, reclaimed water, stormwater, and sanitation utilities, as well as continued capital infrastructure updates and requirements.

The City's utility services experienced an average operating cost increase of 12%. These costs cover impacted and increased expenses for operations and maintenance of water and sanitation utilities, as well as increased costs associated with capital improvement programs. Impacted expenses can include, but are not limited to, increased costs associated with personnel, contractual services, chemicals and materials, and vehicle and equipment repair and replacement.

Revenues from utility fees are directly tied to the costs of the specific utility they support. For example, stormwater fees directly support the functions that assist with planning, operations, and maintenance of stormwater systems, which help mitigate flooding, enhance water quality, and minimize the environmental impact of stormwater pollution. Stormwater fees cannot be used for anything other than stormwater and cannot fund other City services.

Expenses & Projects Supported by Utility Fees

Equipment & Vehicle Replacements and Capital Assets

• Replacing 11 sanitation trucks, two loaders and one open top trailer during Fiscal Year 2026 ($3,019,603)

• Purchasing two utility vehicles to provide transportation for our Solid Waste Equipment Mechanic and Specialist to provide service to our Sanitation fleet and other equipment such as compactor trash containers ($140,000)

• Purchasing one truck, three trailers, 12 actuators, two monchloramine analyzers, valves, flukes, valve cleaners and excavators for the Water Resources Department ($822,974)

Stormwater Projects

• Local-Scale Stormwater Mitigation Projects: Funding for stormwater system improvements that will reduce local-scale flooding in locations not specifically addressed in the City's comprehensive citywide Stormwater Master Plan ($5,000,000)

• Mitigation and Adaptation for Resilient Infrastructure: This project provides funding for the construction, reestablishment and surface restoration related to stormwater system upgrades and capital improvements, citywide. The scope of this work is focused on funding in-house crews to address operationally identified locations where improvements would reduce flooding, lessen impacts from extreme weather events, and build resilient infrastructure ($1,400,000)

• 62nd Ave N SW System Resiliency Improvements: The proposed improvements will focus on providing additional conveyance of stormwater from west of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street by way of bypass via 62nd Ave N. right-of-way ($1,500,000)

• Bartlett Lake/Salt Creek Pump Station: This project provides funding for a new pump station to increase the stormwater conveyance capacity of stormwater Basin C (the drainage basin around Lake Maggiore) ($14,000,000)

• St Pete Agile Resilience Plan (SPAR): Funds for design and feasibility of design for upcoming SPAR program ($3,650,000)

Wastewater Projects

• Increasing wet weather capacity in the Northeast Sewer Basin, which services residents who live north of 30th Avenue and east of I-275, by upgrading existing pipes and building a new lift station and force main dedicated to wet weather flows

• Continuing the elevation and flood-hardening of critical mechanical and electrical equipment at the Northeast and Southwest Water Reclamation Facilities and coastal lift stations

• Initiating the development of an extreme rainfall resiliency plan for the sewer collection system (the Collection System Wet Weather Resiliency Plan) and exploring the feasibility of wet weather storage tanks at the Northwest and Northeast Water Reclamation Facilities

• Continuation of the cleaning and inspecting of gravity sewer pipes to maintain full conveyance volumes. Investigating and correcting sources of infiltration and inflow, which helps prevent sewer backups, overflows, and flooding during heavy rains or storms

• Updating the collection system hydraulic model to identify future opportunities for system resiliency & flexibility across all sewer basins

Rate Changes At A Glance

The average utility customer will see an increase of approximately 8.78% in their utility bill, based on a typical monthly water use of 3,500 gallons for a property with 1,601 - 3,200 sq. ft. of impervious area and reclaimed water service. The same average customer without reclaimed water will see an increase of approximately 8.53%.

We're Here To Help

Payment Plans

The City is here to help customers who are having trouble paying their utility bill. Extended payment arrangements may be available.

Customers are encouraged to make payment arrangements by calling the Utility Customer Service Call Center at 727-893-7341 or emailing [email protected] as soon as possible to avoid associated fees or termination of service. The Utility Customer Service Call Center is open 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

More Assistance

For a directory of additional assistance, visit 211tampabay.org or call 211.

Help Your Neighbors

With the Utility Assistance Program, utility customers can sign up to make automatic donations through their utility bill. Donated funds help utility customers experiencing financial hardships with their utility costs.

There are three easy giving options:

• Make a one-time donation for any amount

• Setup recurring automatic donations for any amount

• Setup the Utility Bill Round-Up, which automatically rounds your bill up to the nearest dollar each month and donates the difference

More information and the sign-up form can be found at https://www.stpete.org/UtilityAssistance

Save Money & Water

Conserving water is a great way to save on your utility bill. Rebates are available for water-saving practices.

High Efficiency Toilet Retrofit Rebate

Rebates from $40 to $100 for single-family, multi-family, or commercial properties that replace existing toilets with high-efficiency toilets. This program is provided to St Pete residents through Tampa Bay Water and information can be found at the Tampa Bay Water Wise website (tampabaywaterwise.org).

Smart Irrigation Controllers Rebate

Free installation by Tampa Bay Water Wise or rebate up to $250 to eligible homeowners who install a soil moisture sensor or evapotranspiration controller.

Sensible Sprinkling Program

City water customers with working in-ground sprinkler systems using potable, reclaimed, or well water can receive a free irrigation check-up and installation of a rain sensor.

Find more programs, details and resources at https://www.stpete.org/WaterConservation.

Details about St. Petersburg's utility services and rates can be found at https://www.stpete.org/Rates