Customers can pay their utility bills online with a credit/debit card or checking account and access up-to-date information, billing history, and service and consumption summaries at the City’s online payment website. There is no additional charge for making your payments online.

 The City advises our customers not to make payments on websites other than those belonging to the City or your bank.  

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about a payment.

Pay by Phone: 
Customers can obtain their balance or pay their water and sewer bill 24/7 using the City's automated telephone payment system by calling (805) 781-7133 and pressing option #1.

You must have your account number to access this system. Your account number can be found on the top right corner of your bill. Phone payments can be made using Visa or MasterCard only. All payments will be posted to your account immediately after the system confirms payment.

If you would like to speak with a Utility Billing Specialist to discuss your bill further, please call during regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and simply stay on the line.

Mail:
To pay your bill by mail, please send your check, along with your payment coupon from the bottom of your bill, to the address below. If you do not have your payment coupon, you can also include the account number or service address on the check memo. Payments received by mail are posted by 3 pm on business days.

City of San Luis Obispo
P O Box 102052
Pasadena CA 91189-2052

Walk-in: 
To make a payment in person, please visit the lower floor of City Hall at 990 Palm St. during normal business hours (Mon – Fri, 8 am – 4 pm, excluding holidays). 

Drop-box: 

For after-hours payments, there is a payment drop-box located at 990 Palm Street in front of the Finance and Information Technology entrance that faces Palm Street. There are four drop boxes built into the brick wall on the right-hand side of the entrance near the sidewalk. Please use the box labeled "City of San Luis Obispo" on the far right. Payments dropped after 7:45 AM will be credited to your account the following business day.

Please do not deposit cash in the payment drop box. 
Please do not use the payment drop box for accounts subject to shut off. 

Each year, the City of San Luis Obispo uses your winter water usage to calculate a Sewer Cap. A sewer cap is the maximum amount of water use that will be billed for sewer service. This helps make sure you are not paying sewer charges for water that is used outdoors, such as irrigation.

The 2025-2026 Sewer Cap period is December 1, 2025 - March 10, 2026.

Your water use during this period will determine your sewer cap for the 2025–2026 billing year starting July 1, 2026.

Turn off irrigation and reduce outdoor water use during this time to help lower your sewer cap.

The City determines the amount of wastewater discharged per property by using the same amount of water that was used by the property during the sewer cap period. To prevent overcharging sewer fees due to irrigation, the sewer cap is calculated during the winter when irrigation is typically off. This allows the sewer cap to cover sewer use only.

Step 1: Winter water use is measured.

Water use is tracked for three billing periods:

• December usage (read in January)
• January usage (read in February)
• February usage (read in March)

Step 2: The Sewer Cap is applied starting July 1st.

Your sewer cap is effective July 1 through June 30 of the following year.

You are only charged sewer fees up to your cap. If you use less water, you pay less.

• Applies to residential properties only
• New customers without usage history default to:
• 5 units for single-family homes
• 4 units per dwelling for multi-family properties on a shared meter
• Commercial/industrial customers can install a separate landscape meter to avoid being charged sewer fees on irrigation use (installation is at customer’s expense)

The City of San Luis Obispo only provides water & sewer services for City customers. Other utilities companies and their contact information are listed below:

PG&E (Electric): https://www.pge.com    

   (800) 743-5000   

   (no physical office in San Luis Obispo)

The Gas Company: https://www.socalgas.com

   (800) 427-2200

   1314 Broad St, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

San Luis Garbage: https://www.sanluisgarbage.com     

   (805) 543-0875

   4388 Old Santa Fe Rd, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401