Menlo Park Commercial Water Rates: Adopted FY2027-FY2029 Bill Guide

What Menlo Park adopted

Source-reported facts: Menlo Park City Council adopted Municipal Water rates for fiscal years 2027 through 2029 on June 9, 2026. The published schedule covers July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029.

The adopted uniform consumption rate is $9.39 per CCF in FY2027, $9.79 in FY2028, and $10.23 in FY2029. The city applies that usage rate across customer classes, but other bill components still depend on meter size, service type, and operating conditions.

Who may be affected

The city says the uniform consumption charge applies to all Menlo Park Municipal Water customer classes, and it separately lists an unmetered fire fixed charge for commercial customers. Commercial properties should therefore model both their usage-linked rate and any applicable meter or fire-service charge.

Service area is the first gate. This schedule applies only to accounts served by Menlo Park Municipal Water; a property billed by another provider needs that provider’s rate schedule instead.

Separate the FY2027 bill lines before modeling

Source-reported facts: FY2027 combines a $9.39 per CCF consumption charge, a $2.00 per CCF capital-facility surcharge, and a $0.09 per CCF SFPUC wholesale pass-through. Together, those three usage-linked components total $11.48 per CCF before any active drought surcharge.

Monthly fixed charges do not move with CCF. A 2-inch meter is $196.03 in FY2027, $204.36 in FY2028, and $213.56 in FY2029; a 3-inch meter is $392.07, $408.73, and $427.12. Fire-service charges are also separate, so meter and fire lines must stay outside a usage-reduction calculation.

A transparent 250 CCF commercial example

Smart Valve analysis: assume a Municipal Water commercial account uses 250 CCF in one FY2027 month and has a 2-inch meter. The three published variable components total $11.48 per CCF, so 250 CCF represents $2,870.00 in variable water charges.

Adding the published $196.03 monthly 2-inch fixed charge produces a $3,066.03 water-only example. This is arithmetic from the adopted component sheet, not a city-issued sample bill; it excludes fire service, an active drought surcharge, capacity fees, sewer, stormwater, refuse, taxes, credits, and account-specific adjustments.

Water, sewer, wastewater, and stormwater implications

The adopted source set governs Menlo Park Municipal Water charges. It does not establish a specific property's sewer, wastewater, stormwater, or refuse formula, and it does not show that those lines change in step with the water schedule.

Pull the complete bill and separate water consumption, capital surcharge, SFPUC pass-through, fixed meter, fire service, sewer or wastewater, stormwater, refuse, and adjustments. Stormwater should never be treated as usage-reducible without a source that ties it to metered water.

Drought and capacity charges need different treatment

The adopted sheet publishes maximum incremental FY2027 drought surcharges ranging from $0.31 per CCF at Stage 1 to $4.13 at Stage 6. That is a contingency schedule, not evidence that a drought surcharge is currently active; check the bill and current city notice before adding one to a model.

The same sheet lists capacity fees effective August 10, 2026, including $49,738 for a 2-inch meter. Capacity fees concern new or expanded service and are not recurring monthly usage charges, so they do not belong in a routine conservation-savings calculation.

What a 20 percent usage reduction could mean

Directional estimate: a 20 percent reduction from the 250 CCF example equals 50 CCF. At the published FY2027 $11.48 variable bundle, those 50 CCF represent $574.00 per month, or $6,888.00 over 12 equal months, in usage-linked water exposure.

This is not a savings guarantee. It assumes all three per-CCF lines move with billed consumption and excludes the fixed meter charge, fire service, capacity fees, inactive drought charges, sewer, stormwater, refuse, taxes, account adjustments, operating changes, and installation feasibility.

What to check first on your bill

First, confirm the provider and service area. Then record meter size, billed CCF, fire-service size, customer class, service dates, and each capital, SFPUC, drought, sewer, wastewater, stormwater, refuse, or adjustment line exactly as printed.

Compare the same operating month year over year, and flag estimated reads or abrupt demand changes. That keeps a rate effect from being confused with occupancy, irrigation, cooling, laundry, kitchen, process-water, or leak changes.

Where Smart Valve fits

Smart Valve belongs in the broader bill-reduction plan only after a site confirms that controllable metered volume represents a meaningful share of the bill. It cannot reduce fixed meter, fire-service, capacity, stormwater, refuse, or other non-usage charges.

For a high-volume account with suitable line conditions, a bill assessment can test whether lower billable volume could reduce the usage-linked water exposure. Results depend on the actual provider, billed CCF, operating pattern, rate components, site conditions, and installation feasibility.

FAQ

Sources

• City of Menlo Park - current adopted water rates (retrieved July 10, 2026)
• City of Menlo Park - adopted FY2027-FY2029 rate sheet (retrieved July 10, 2026)