Orlando Water Service: Provider, 2026 Rates and Starting an Account

OUC, the Orlando Utilities Commission, supplies drinking water to homes and businesses inside the City of Orlando and in portions of Orange County, while Orange County Utilities runs a separate county system with its own accounts (OUC water services).

OUC calls itself a statutory municipal utility commission that has served Central Florida since 1923, and its five-member Commission sets the utility's rates and operating policies (OUC about page). The OUC 2025 Water Quality Report describes its customers as the residents of Orlando and parts of unincorporated Orange County (OUC Water Quality Report 2025).

Orange County Utilities is a different utility. It distributes around 70 million gallons per day from its own Floridan Aquifer wells through over 2,000 pipes spread across 470 square miles, and its Water Division answers at 407-254-9850 (Orange County Utilities, Water Quality).

The City of Orlando sewer page puts it plainly: a household should check its bill to confirm it is a City of Orlando wastewater customer, and an Orange County customer should call 407.836.5515 (City of Orlando sewer billing page). For a new address, OUC posts a service territory map on its start, stop or move page (OUC start, stop or move service).

Since October 1, 2026, an OUC single family home with a 5/8 inch meter pays a $10.50 monthly service charge plus tiered volume charges that start at $0.90 per 1,000 gallons (OUC Water Rate Schedule, effective October 1, 2026).

The OUC rates page confirms that water rates are effective as of October 01, 2026 (OUC service rates and costs). The service charge includes no consumption and rises with meter size: $15.25 for a 1 inch meter, $23.00 for 1 1/2 inch and $33.00 for 2 inch. The volume blocks below apply to all residential single family accounts and all other 5/8 inch meters on the OUC system; commercial potable meters of 1 inch and larger pay $2.50 per 1,000 gallons for all consumption.

Worked from that OUC schedule, a home on a 5/8 inch meter using 7,000 gallons in a month owes $10.50 plus $2.70 for the first 3,000 gallons plus $5.60 for the next 4,000, or $18.80 in OUC water charges. Residential irrigation water on the same schedule pays $2.50 for the first 19,000 gallons, $8.50 for the next 11,000 and $16.25 above 30,000.

The larger line on many Orlando bills is sewer. For a single family home inside city limits, the City of Orlando charges a $28.03 base fee plus $6.77 per 1,000 gallons, capped at 14,000 gallons; outside city limits the figures are $35.04 and $8.46 (City of Orlando sewer fees). The city's own example for 7,000 gallons comes to $75.42 a month, roughly four times the OUC water charge for the same use. OUC also adds a late payment fee of 1.5 percent of the total due or $5.00, whichever is greater, five days after the due date (OUC miscellaneous charges).

A new OUC customer in Orlando starts water service through a myOUC online account (Service Request, then Start Service) or by calling (407) 423-9018, and a $25 connection charge lands on the first bill (OUC start, stop or move service).

OUC may also require a deposit, set from personal credit history, the services at the premises and any past payment history with OUC; it runs a brief credit inquiry through Experian. Deposits are typically refunded once the account is two years old with no forced collection attempts or more than four delinquent payments in the past 24 months. A customer who stops service before the two-year mark gets the deposit back as a credit on the final OUC bill.

Timing matters on moving day. At an Orlando address that already has active OUC service, a same-day request is not completed until the next business day. At a location without active service, a request made before 4:00 p.m. on a weekday may be completed the same day if all requirements are met (OUC service request timing). OUC completes requests Monday through Friday, excluding federal and OUC-observed holidays, and requests submitted on weekends or holidays are processed on the next available business day.

OUC headquarters is Reliable Plaza, 100 W. Anderson St., Orlando, Florida 32801, and payments are not accepted at that location (OUC business locations). Reading the meter again is free once in 12 months, and a reconnect at the meter after a disconnection for nonpayment costs $45.00 on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. (OUC service rates and costs).

Orange County Utilities customers follow a different path: call Utilities Customer Service at (407) 836-5515 or use the Utilities Online Account at least three days before service is needed. Its deposit is $41 for a water-only account or $135 for water and wastewater, plus a $16 initiation fee during regular business hours, and the deposit earns interest (Orange County Utilities, Water Service and Rates).

OUC tap water in Orlando is pumped from the Lower Floridan Aquifer, about a quarter of a mile below the surface, a source OUC has used since 1957 (OUC water services).

OUC's water services page says it pumps about 35 billion gallons of water per year across a 200-square-mile service area, while the 2025 Water Quality Report gives about 31.7 billion gallons a year for the same area; the two OUC sources differ. Through its five-year Water Project 2000 initiative OUC moved to ozone treatment, which reduces the chlorine used and removes hydrogen sulfide, a naturally occurring compound that can create an unpleasant taste and odor (OUC water services). The 2025 report says OUC uses ozone at its seven water-service plants and then adds sodium hypochlorite to keep water safe in the pipes (OUC Water Quality Report 2025).

OUC stopped adding fluoride on July 1, 2025 after Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Florida Farm Bill, Senate Bill 700, on May 20, 2025 (OUC water FAQ). The OUC lab monitors more than 135 substances, and OUC states that its system contains no lead service lines; once water leaves the OUC system it may meet plumbing or fixtures inside buildings where lead may still be present, and in 2025 OUC began taking part in a program to test drinking water for lead at accredited childcare centers and schools (OUC Water Quality Report 2025).

Lawns on OUC water in Orlando may be watered twice a week during Daylight Saving Time and once a week during Eastern Standard Time, and OUC's best practices say not between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. (OUC watering restrictions).

OUC dates Eastern Standard Time, and the once-a-week schedule, from the first Sunday in November until the second Sunday in March. OUC limits watering to one hour per zone, allows new grass or plants daily watering for the first 30 days and every other day for the next 30, permits a 20-minute test per zone at any time, and takes violation reports at 407-434-2256. OUC notes that irrigation accounts for more than 50 percent of Central Florida water use.

Reclaimed water, highly treated wastewater for irrigation, is available only in certain service areas within the City of Orlando (City of Orlando, Get Reclaimed Water). The steps are to check eligibility online with the city, get a plumbing permit, set up a reclaimed water account with OUC, which the city calls the utility provider for the City of Orlando, and schedule a post-construction inspection; the city says it will make contact within two business days to arrange it. Reclaimed water is not for indoor use, filling pools or hot tubs, or human or animal consumption.

The biggest change for Orlando water is the OUC Southeast Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plant in Lake Nona, approved by the OUC board on April 9, 2024 and set for completion in 2033 (OUC news release, April 10, 2024).

The 40,000-square-foot plant, at an existing repump station on 15 acres, is estimated at $125 million to $155 million. The plant will drill up to 2,000 feet into the ground to reach brackish groundwater deeper in the Lower Floridan Aquifer, which will undergo a high-pressure microfiltration process. The 2024 release set construction to begin in November 2025; the OUC 2025 Water Quality Report, posted in 2026, says OUC is drilling wells at the future plant near Lake Nona and cites regional projections that water demand may increase 40 percent by 2045 (OUC Water Quality Report 2025).

On bills, both the OUC water schedule and the City of Orlando sewer fees changed on October 1, 2026, so the first October bill is the one to compare against September. For Orange County Utilities customers, Resolution No. 2025-M-19, effective October 1, 2025, allows billing adjustments for customers with 5/8 x 3/4 inch meters and all residential customers who experience unusually high water or reclaimed water consumption (Orange County Utilities billing adjustments).

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the OUC website, the City of Orlando website and the Orange County Utilities website.