Your rates at work
Who we are: New Braunfels Utilities (NBU) is a nonprofit, community-owned utility delivering electric, water and wastewater services to 60,000+ customers. That means NBU only charges ratepayers what it costs to provide utility services, no more. As a nonprofit utility, we serve you, not stockholders.
How we do it:
- Smart Planning
- Responsible Budgeting
- Excellence in Service
Why we do it: We are customer-driven and community-focused. We are not only NBU employees, we are your neighbors.
Understanding Your Rates
Every dollar on your utility bill ensures your lights are on, your water is flowing and your toilets are flushing.
Here is the equipment necessary to keep our community safe:
- 700+ miles of water pipelines
- 500 miles of wastewater lines
- 800 miles of electric distribution lines
- We operate electric and water meters, booster pump stations, groundwater wells, lift stations, substations and thousands of switches and transformers
Here is what we must pay for through the rates:
• Infrastructure: Improvements of existing utility infrastructure to keep services reliable. If we don’t maintain our electric, water and wastewaters systems, that’s a public health issue. We think about it so you don’t have to.
• Growth: New growth-related utility projects. We must provide utility services to new development in our service area, it is not a choice for NBU, it’s a mandate. Developers are required to pay impact fees as part of the development approval process. The goal is to reduce the cost of growth on our customers. NBU charges developers the maximum allowed by law in order to offset water and wastewater costs.
• Regulatory Compliance: Meeting increasing regulatory mandates for electric, water and wastewater which are not funded by the state or federal government.
• Inflation: Increased costs for materials and labor.
• Planning for tomorrow: Strategic investments to prepare for future extreme weather and growth.
What will my bill be?
Pending approval by New Braunfels City Council on June 23, 2025, any proposed rate adjustments will go into effect on August 1, 2025.
The average TOTAL proposed dollar increase for residential customers is:*
- $16.41 – Including essential water use only
- $26.16 (+8.16%) – Including essential water and irrigation
Here is how the proposed rate increases for electric, water and wastewater services impact the average bill by service:
*Monthly calculations use the following average customer usage profile: Average based on 1,200 kWh/mo (electric) | Average based on 6,000 gal/mo (no irrigation) | Average based on 6,000 gal/mo (irrigation only) | Average based on 4,600 gal/mo (wastewater) – with higher costs in peak demand months due to increased usage.
What resources are available?
We are here for you every step of the way and here’s how:
How does NBU’s rates compare to others?
Your monthly bill is four in one – electric, water, wastewater and City of New Braunfels solid waste and recycling. To help you compare our rates with others, we’ve broken them down by line of service below. We balance affordability with properly maintained infrastructure to provide our community with safe and reliable electric, water and wastewater service.
How rates are set
Following industry best practices, we regularly review and adjust our utility rates to ensure rates reflect the actual costs of providing water, wastewater and electric services. Pending approval, NBU will seek utility service rate adjustments based on a comprehensive rates study conducted by an independent party, Raftelis.
Delaying investment puts the reliability of your everyday services—like taking a hot shower, running your AC or flushing the toilet—at risk. Rate adjustments ensure NBU can stay ahead of costly failures and keep your essential services safe, reliable and ready when you need them.
Your rates will fund ~$979 million in necessary system improvements scheduled between 2025 – 2030. These funds will support projects that improve service reliability – electricity and clean water when you need it. This includes maintaining and replacing infrastructure and meeting increased demands from a growing community.
Impact fees are paid by developers to pay for growth projects. The goal is to reduce the cost of growth on customers. NBU charges developers the maximum allowed by law in order to offset these costs. Fees are based on infrastructure needs for the next 10 years. New Braunfels has one of the highest impact fees in the state and reflects the city’s status as one of the fastest growing in the nation.
Following industry best practices, a rate study was conducted by an independent third party which ensures NBU remains financially responsible, with rates reflecting the true cost of providing water, wastewater and electric services and carefully examines future costs.
When your systems aren’t maintained or upgraded, problems don’t stay hidden for long – and they always cost more later. For the average person, that could mean:
- More outages. Aging electric lines are more likely to fail during storms or extreme heat and cold, leaving your home or business without power when you need it most.
- Unsafe water or low water pressure. Old water pipes can corrode or break down, leading to boil water notices and service interruptions.
- Sewer backups and environmental damage. Cracked wastewater lines can cause backups into homes or overflows into local rivers and creeks.
- Longer restoration times. Outdated equipment takes longer to fix, meaning longer waits times when issues arise.
No. NBU is a nonprofit, community-owned utility. Every dollar collected through customer payments goes directly toward the costs of providing electricity, water and wastewater services – not to shareholders or profits.
NBU’s service territory includes over 161 square miles. NBU is legally obligated to provide continuous and adequate utility service to the area within the Certificate of Convenience and Necessity (CCN) boundary. NBU does not determine growth. Click here for our service territory map.
To ensure community values were honored, input from the NBU’s citizen-led Community Advisory Panel helped identify priorities that represented the community. Their feedback influenced how NBU rates are structured, ensuring they reflect what matters most to our customers:
- Affordability & Fairness – rates reflect the true costs of our utility services, unlike private utilities, which add in profit
- Electric and Water System Reliability – funding essential maintenance and upgrades to our systems that connect electricity and water to our customers
- Resiliency – preparing systems for growth and emergencies to continue providing reliable services
To read the CAP’s Final Report and Response to The NBU Rate Study, click here
Your rates help keep the lights on and water flowing. They fund the operational costs and work that prevents outages, improves water pressure and quality, keeps power steady during storms, and ensures we meet important environmental standards—so your home stays comfortable and safe today and for years to come.
Your rates help keep the lights on and water flowing. They fund the operational costs and work that prevents outages, improves water pressure and quality, keeps power steady during storms, and ensures we meet important environmental standards—so your home stays comfortable and safe today and for years to come.
- You may qualify for our Utility Billing Assistance Program.
- Explore tips, rebates and programs that can help you save water, energy and money here.
- You’ve got options when paying your bill, including budget billing and the Senior Citizens Billing Program. Learn More