Utility Services

Utility Service Application

The Village of Winnetka provides water, electric, refuse, sanitary sewer, and stormwater (sewer) service to our residents and businesses.

To obtain water and electric service, a new resident must sign and submit a customer service application request. Those who rent, rather than own their residence, will be required to pay a deposit.

It is important that residents who use life support equipment in their homes notify the Water and Electric Department so that special care can be taken to keep electric outages to a minimum and to restore service first if an outage occurs.

For additional information, email the Village Finance Department or call at 847-446-9550.

Service Description & Charges

The Village issues a bill to most residential customers bimonthly-including charges for water, electricity, sewer, stormwater and refuse pick up. Electric, Water, and Sanitary Sewer services also have a non-volumetric customer charge, which partially pays for reading the meters, billing the account, and covering some of the Village’s fixed costs in providing service.

Water Service

For water service, the Village charges $51.20 per 1,000 cubic feet. There are approximately 7.48 gallons in 1 cubic foot. Therefore, one thousand gallons of water costs approximately $6.90 ($51.62 rate per 1,000 cubic feet / 7.48 gallons per cubic foot). A customer’s cost for water service also includes a monthly customer charge based on their home’s meter size.

Electric Service

For electric service, the Village charges by the kilowatt hour. A kilowatt is 1,000 watts, which is the same amount of electricity as burning a 100 watt bulb for 10 hours. Electric rates vary by time of year and type of customer. A typical residential customer pays about 14 cents per kilowatt hour for service in non-peak months and 15 cents per kilowatt hour during peak summer months (bills issued in June through September). A monthly customer charge by rate class and number of phases (single-phase versus three-phase) is assessed to each electric customer.

Refuse Service

Residents have the option to have refuse collected at the curbside or at their back door. Rate are as follows:

Curbside Graduated Pricing Can Options

Curbside Collection
35-Gallon	$ 27.68
65-Gallon	$ 36.90
95-Gallon	$ 46.13
95-Gallon (Twice/Week)	$ 92.26

Back Door Collection
Two (2) 37-Gallon Cans:
Once/Week	$ 51.25
Twice/Week	$ 102.50

*Prices are monthly

Sanitary Sewer Service

For sanitary sewer service, the Village charges are $18.88 per 1,000 cubic feet. Therefore, for every 1,000 gallons of water used, the sewer charge costs approximately $2.52 ($18.88 rate per 1,000 cubic feet / 7.48 gallons per cubic foot). A flat monthly customer charge of $2 is charged to each customer account with sanitary sewer service.

Stormwater Utility Fees

For the stormwater utility, fees are based on the amount of impervious surface located on each parcel in the Village. The fees are calculated based on the number of Equivalent Runoff Units (ERU). One ERU is 3,400 square feet of impervious area - the average amount of impervious area located on single family residential properties in the Village.

Fees are then calculated based on the number of ERUs on the individual parcel rounded to the tenth of an ERU. Parcels without impervious surface or with impervious area less than 170 square feet are not charged a stormwater fee. The current utility rate is $262 per ERU.

Get more information about the 2023 utility rate structure.

Utility Bill Payment

There are five options to pay your utility bill:

Mail the payment in the return envelope included with the bill
Come to the Village Hall and pay in person
Pay by depositing payment in a drop box located near the Winnetka Post Office
Deduct bill payment automatically from a bank account via ACH
Online with a major credit card (One-time or recurring payments available)

The utility bill drop box is located behind the post office on Dwyer Court about 100 feet south of the U.S. Mail Boxes. This drop box is collected by Village staff daily and therefore no postage is required.

Preferred Method of Payment

The preferred method of payment for many customers is the Automatic Bill Payment (PDF) option. This option automatically deducts from the customer’s bank account the amount due on the due date and avoids the risk of a late payment or worrying about making payments while on vacation. The customer continues to receive a paper or e-bill copy of the detailed bill.

The Village accepts credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express) for utility bill payments, vehicle licenses, parking permits, and refuse stickers.

Note: Certain wholesale or high volume customers may not pay their utility bill with a credit card. The Village reserves the right to impose reasonable limitations on this form of payment.

Helpful Resources