All topics / Infrastructure and Sustainability / Department of Environmental Protection
Estimated bills (%)
Bill and collect revenue for water and sewer usage. — Ensure that customer billing is accurate, transparent and fair.
The share of water bills based on an estimate rather than an actual meter reading climbed steadily for several years — DEP attributed the early increases to pandemic-era supply chain shortages of meter transmission units, and more recently to an aging fleet of Automated Meter Reading (AMR) devices that increasingly fail to transmit readings. In December 2024, DEP began a three-year, $72 million program to replace over 600,000 AMR devices citywide, which it expects will gradually reduce reliance on estimated bills.
Researched July 16, 2026 — DEP, Fiscal 2023 Mayor's Management Report, DEP, Fiscal 2025 Mayor's Management Report, DEP, Preliminary Fiscal 2026 Mayor's Management Report, The Rockaway Times, "New Yorkers Face Estimated Water Bills as They Await Meter Upgrades"
* Year to date — this fiscal year isn't complete, so it's not compared against prior years in the target/trend status above.
View as table
| Fiscal year | Actual | Target |
|---|---|---|
| FY22 | 3.5% | 4% |
| FY23 | 4.8% | 4% |
| FY24 | 7.9% | 4% |
| FY25 | 17.5% | 4% |
| FY26 (YTD) | 28.3% | 4% |
Why this is tracked
In the 1980s, following the fiscal crisis of the 1970s when investors were reluctant to buy bonds backed by the City's shaky general fund, New York restructured its water and sewer system's finances. A 1985 lease agreement placed water and sewer revenue under the independent NYC Water Board, dedicated exclusively to system operations, maintenance, and debt service on water finance bonds, rather than the city's general fund. That is why DEP's billing and collection function exists as a self-sustaining system: the rates it sets and collects are what pay for the water infrastructure New Yorkers depend on.
History of NYC water and sewer system financial structure - NYC Council, NYC Water Board
Source: Bureau of Customer Services — via NYC Open Data: Mayor's Management Report, Agency Performance Indicators
Coverage shown: FY22–FY26, reported monthly.
Definition: The proportion of water and sewer bills mailed that are not based on actual meter readings.