Reading an LADWP water bill: tiers, lot size and what an HCF is

The bill comes every two months and counts water in a unit almost nobody uses at home. Once you can turn HCF into gallons and find your lot-size row, the rest is multiplication. The prices below are for Schedule A, the single-dwelling schedule, as of November 2026.

What is an HCF on an LADWP water bill?

An HCF is a hundred cubic feet of water, and LADWP says one HCF equals 748 gallons. Every Schedule A customer gets 8 HCF a month at the Tier 1 price, which shows up as 16 HCF on a two-month bill. That is 11,968 gallons (16 × 748), and LADWP treats it as basic indoor use.

Your water meter counts in cubic feet. LADWP drops the last two digits of the reading and bills in the hundreds.

What are LADWP water rates right now?

Through December 2026, Tier 1 costs $11.794 per HCF, Tier 2 costs $14.278, and Tiers 3 and 4 both cost $15.024. From January through June 2027, the published prices are $11.944, $14.169 and $15.601, with Tiers 3 and 4 again matched.

1. Tier 1, Jul–Dec 202611.794 $/HCF
2. Tier 2, Jul–Dec 202614.278 $/HCF
3. Tiers 3–4, Jul–Dec 202615.024 $/HCF
4. Tier 1, Jan–Jun 202711.944 $/HCF
5. Tier 2, Jan–Jun 202714.169 $/HCF
6. Tiers 3–4, Jan–Jun 202715.601 $/HCF

Source: LADWP

Two things stand out. Tier 4 was a separate, higher price as recently as January–June 2026, at $17.522 against $15.427 for Tier 3, so the current match may not last. And the January move is not one direction: Tier 1 rises 15 cents, Tier 2 falls about 11 cents and Tiers 3 and 4 rise about 58 cents, according to the January–June 2027 notice.

Most of each price is not the base rate. Tier 1's base is $2.095. The rest is a stack of adjustment factors, reset every January and July, that the notice ties to the cost of buying water from the Metropolitan Water District and to other water projects. For July–December 2026 the Tier 1 stack adds up like this: $2.095 + $3.199 + $2.980 + $0.435 + $1.685 + $1.384 + $0.016 = $11.794.

How do lot size and season set your LADWP tiers?

Lot size and season decide how much water fits in Tiers 2 and 3, while Tier 1 stays at 16 HCF for everyone. Winter runs October through May and summer runs June through September. These are LADWP's two-month blocks; LADWP's page has five lot-size groups, and the top two have identical blocks, so they share a row here.

Older LADWP pages describe three temperature zones. Since June 1, 2025, the low and medium zones get the high zone's summer allotment, and the current table reads "all temperature zones." LADWP also publishes these blocks on an allotment sheet, and it can tell you which row is yours.

How do you work out an LADWP bill from your meter use?

Fill the tiers in order, multiply each by its price, then add. This is an example with a made-up house, not a real bill: a 6,000-square-foot lot using 30 HCF (22,440 gallons, from 30 × 748) on a winter bill, at July–December 2026 prices.

The same 30 HCF costs $400.93 at the January–June 2027 prices: (16 × $11.944) + (6 × $14.169) + (8 × $15.601) = $191.104 + $85.014 + $124.808 = $400.926. In summer at July–December prices, the larger Tier 2 block holds the other 14 HCF: (16 × $11.794) + (14 × $14.278) = $188.704 + $199.892 = $388.596, about $388.60.

Tier 1 is simply the first water you use, indoors or out. Anything extra lands at the top of the stack, which is why a leak or a long sprinkler cycle is priced at your highest tier that bill.

This paper found no plain statement on the rates pages of how LADWP splits a bill that crosses a season or a price change. Read your bill's line items for that.

What do the published LADWP rates leave out?

The prices here are consumption charges only, so your total will be higher than the arithmetic. LADWP also bills City sewer service charges and trash fees for LA Sanitation, and those have their own rules.

Service outside the city limits adds a surcharge: $0.319 per HCF in 2026 and $0.146 per HCF in 2027. Apartment owners are on Schedule B, not Schedule A. To shrink the number, start with the LADWP rebates.

On your street

• Hills & Eastside LADWP neighborhoods here use these tables; a small lot reaches Tier 4 above 34 HCF in winter.
• The Valley Summer blocks matter most where a big yard is on the meter, so find your row before June.
• Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank Three separate cities with their own utilities, so none of these prices apply.
• Westside & Beach Santa Monica runs its own water; West Hollywood and Culver City are served by LADWP only in part, so check your bill.
• South L.A. & Inglewood Inglewood is a separate city, so check who bills you.
• Long Beach & Harbor San Pedro, Wilmington and Harbor City are LADWP; Long Beach has its own utility and its own rates.

Who handles this

• LADWPRates, tier allotments, billing questions and your lot-size group
• LA SanitationThe sewer service charge and trash fees that appear on the LADWP bill

Questions that come up

Is Tier 4 more expensive than Tier 3 right now?

No. Both are $15.024 per HCF through December 2026 and both are $15.601 from January through June 2027. In January–June 2026, Tier 4 was $17.522 and Tier 3 was $15.427.

How often do LADWP's water prices change?

The adjustment factors reset in January and July. LADWP published its notice for January 2027 ahead of time.

Why would a bill rise when use stayed flat?

Compare HCF first. If it matches, look for a price reset, a longer billing period or a different season's blocks.

Does a bigger lot get more cheap water?

It gets the same 16 HCF in Tier 1. A bigger lot gets larger Tier 2 and Tier 3 blocks, so it reaches the top tier later.

What this was checked against

1. Schedule A prices, surcharge and the 748-gallon HCF: LADWP Schedule A
2. Tier blocks and uses: LADWP residential rates page
3. Bimonthly allotments by lot size: LADWP allotment sheet
4. January 2027 factors: LADWP biannual notice

Sources read in November 2026. Rules and prices change: check the agency before you act.