It’s common for tenants to pay for water use. You can only be asked to pay for water if it’s stated in your tenancy agreement and certain conditions are met.
The cost may be included in your rent, or the property manager/owner may bill you separately. If you’re required to pay for water separately, the property manager/owner must send you a copy of the water bill within 4 weeks of receiving it from the service provider. If you don’t pay for water separately, the property manager/owner is not required to send you a copy of the water bill.
The water bill tells you how much water you used and how much money you owe. Learning to read the bill helps with tracking water use and how much you’re spending on utilities.
This information only applies to general tenancy agreements. Your water bill may look different to the example below, but it should include similar information.
Example – account information and summary
Some parts of your bill may be hidden to protect the property owner’s privacy.
The first page of the water bill has account information and a summary of water use for the billing period. The account information includes:
- name and address of the property owner
- ‘property location' where the water was used
- customer and bill numbers
- date the bill was issued
- payment due date (the property owner needs to pay the bill by this date)
- water use (measured in kilolitres (kL))
- number of days you’re being charged for.
This section also has graphs that compare your water use to other homes in the area. These graphs are a good way to tell if your water use is similar to others in your suburb.
Example – water charges
This section shows how the bill is calculated. In the example, water charges are separated into categories:
| Category | What’s included | Can the tenant be charged? |
|---|---|---|
| Water usage | State bulk water price This only applies to South East Queensland. The state bulk water price is the wholesale price of water that’s set by the Queensland Government. | Yes |
Distribution/retail price This is the amount that’s charged per kilolitre of water used. | Yes | |
| Water services | Water service charge This is a fixed amount that’s charged for each day in the billing period. | No |
| Sewerage services | Sewerage service charge This is a fixed amount that’s charged for each day in the billing period. | No |
These categories may be called something different on your bill.
The last section of the bill shows the total amount that’s owed. As the tenant, you can only be asked to pay the total for the ‘water usage’ category. Other criteria apply – read our water charging page for more information.
Water bills for properties with sub-meters
Your water bill may look different if you live in a multi-residential property, like an apartment building or townhouse complex.
Multi-residential properties may use ‘sub-meters’ to measure how much water each residence is using. Sub-meters may be read by the water service provider or the property manager/owner.
- If the sub-meter is read by the service provider, your water bill may look like the example above.
- If the sub-meter is read by the property manager/owner, your water bill may look different. The property manager/owner may also create their own calculation to figure out how much the tenant needs to pay for water.
What to do if there’s a mistake with your water bill
Contact the property manager/owner if you think there's a mistake with your water bill.
Service providers may estimate your water use rather than reading the meter. This can cause your water bill to seem high. If this happens:
- take a picture of the water meter reading
- send it to the property manager/owner
- ask the property manager/owner to send the correct meter reading to the service provider.
Your bill should tell you whether the meter reading is an estimate.
Disagreements about water bills
The RTA encourages tenants and property managers/owners to communicate and try to resolve disputes on their own. Contact the property manager/owner to discuss the issue.
Here are some things to consider:
- the average local water consumption for a premises with the same number of tenants (this information is included on the original water bill)
- the tenant's historical water consumption
- events or occasions that may lead to an increased water bill, like guests staying overnight
- whether there was a water leak that occurred during the billing period.
If you cannot agree, the RTA provides free dispute resolution that may be able to help.
More information
For more information, you can visit our water charging page or see our:
You can also contact us for help.