Utility Rates

Utility Bills are due February 28, 2025

Learn everything you need to know about utility rates, ways to pay, and how we compare to other regional municipalities in the 2025 Utilities Info Sheet.

The City of North Vancouver supplies high-quality drinking water to its residents through a complex water infrastructure system. The City’s sanitary sewer system removes sewage and delivers it to Metro Vancouver for treatment.

The costs for providing water and sewer services are reflected in your annual utility bill. The rates are based on three key factors:

  • Costs paid to Metro Vancouver for the purchase of drinking water and wastewater treatment
  • City water and sewer system operations and maintenance costs
  • Long-term investment in asset management and resilience

Every year, around half of the City’s utility fees are paid to Metro Vancouver to provide high-quality drinking water and wastewater treatment. The City uses the other half for annual operations to maintain the system and long-term investment in the utility infrastructure.

This year, residents will see an increase in their utility bill as a result of major cost overruns in the North Shore Waste Water Treatment Plant (NSWWTP) project led by Metro Vancouver. 

Beginning in 2025, the City of North Vancouver will be drawing on its utility reserves to help buffer the impact of these cost increases on ratepayers. 

 

Asset Management for a Healthy & Resilient City

Public infrastructure is the foundation of a healthy and resilient community, requiring long-term planning and investment. Asset management ensures we are maintaining and replacing aging infrastructure while also investing in new systems to meet our community’s current and future needs. The City and Metro Vancouver are investing in essential utility infrastructure, including maintaining and replacing aging water and sewer mains and building a new North Shore wastewater treatment plant.

2025 Utility Rates

Rates are shown below for multi- and single-unit homes. If your property is another housing type, such as a coach house or secondary suite, see your bill or check your account online at cnv.org/Ubill for applicable rates.

Learn more in the 2025 Utilities Info Sheet.

2025 Utilities  Multi-unit dwelling  Single-unit dwelling
Water  $390  $663
Sewer  $485  $778
TOTAL  $875  $1,441

Ways to Pay Your Utility Bill

View Your Account Online

Visit cnv.org/Ubill to view details about your account including utility transactions, balances, and billing summaries. Register and access your account using the account number and access code on your utility bill.

 

  Internet or Telephone Banking

Set up ‘City of North Vancouver – Utilities’ as Payee at your financial institution. Use the 9 digit roll number as the account number (you may need to exclude the decimal point). Allow three business days for your payment to process. Contact your bank with questions about accessing this service.

 

   Mail

Mail in your payment by cheque. Make cheques payable to ‘City of North Vancouver’. To avoid late fee penalties, cheques must be received by February 28, 2025 at City Hall. Do not mail cash payments. Postmarks of mailed remittances will not be considered as date of payment. Post dated cheques to the due date are acceptable.
 
Mail cheques to: Property Tax Office, City of North Vancouver, 141 West 14th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7M 1H9.

 

   In Person Options

Financial institution

Pay by cheque, cash, or debit at your financial institution and keep your receipt.

City Hall Drop Box

Pay by cheque by dropping off your payment in one of the 24-hour drop boxes at City Hall, located at both the 13th St. and 14th St. entrances. Cash payments are not accepted in the drop box.

Gateway Counter at City Hall

Payments can be made in person at the Gateway Counter at City Hall, Monday to Friday, 8:30am-5pm. Payments can be made by cheque, cash or debit.



Credit cards are not accepted for utility bill payments. 

Note: a 5% penalty will apply to any unpaid balance after February 28, 2025. An additional 5% penalty will apply to any unpaid balance after April 30, 2025. 

FAQ's

1. What if I can’t pay my utility bill by February 28th? 

The City offers a pre-authorized tax and utility plan to make monthly pre-payments on your estimated bill. All 2024 tax and utility fees must be paid in full before enrolling in the 2025 Payment Plan. Learn more and apply at cnv.org/PrepaymentPlan.

2. What has caused the rate increase?

There are a number of drivers for the rate increase. The most significant driver: ballooning costs for the North Shore Waste Water Treatment plant with the majority of the cost to be carried by residents of the North Shore.

  • The original cost projection for the project designed to serve 300k+ residents on the North Shore was $700 million, which was subsequently raised to $1.06 billion in 2021. In June 2024, Metro Vancouver approved an increase of an additional $2.8 billion to this budget, raising the total budget to $3.86 billion.
  • Residents of the North Shore are responsible for 37 percent of the costs, as a result of a vote at Metro Vancouver. North Shore residents represent seven per cent of the region's population.
  • This project budget has resulted in a projected 218% increase in utility rates over the coming 5-year period. 

A secondary driver:  the impact of severe weather events like the recent atmospheric river in October 2024 are straining the City’s water infrastructure, and ultimately drive the costs of maintaining and preparing our system against storms and surges to come.  

3. What is the City of North Vancouver doing to protect ratepayers from this increase? 

City of North Vancouver staff have been working to understand and plan for the implications of the current estimates to complete the NSWTP on local taxpayers. Over the coming years, the City will be drawing on its utility reserves to limit utility rate increases and smooth the impact of cost increases on ratepayers, who will be assuming 37 per cent of the extra costs.

All three municipalities on the north shore have elected officials that sit on the Board of Metro Vancouver and have been advocating on behalf of residents given the tax burden as a result of the project.


Contact Us

Property Tax Office
Tel: 604-983-7316
Email: tax@cnv.org

catch basin

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