CCU is a municipally owned and operated utility. It has certain procedures for citizens of the City to gain services and different procedures for those who live outside the corporate limits. If you live outside of the City of Columbus, you should first go to the Bartholomew County planning office and make an application for service with them.
If you reside within the City limits, there are probably water and sewer facilities available to your property, but sometimes there are exceptions. The CCU will work with you in extending facilities to your site if this is the case, but extensions can take time. If you suspect that facilities are not available, it would be to your benefit to contact the CCU Engineering department as soon as possible.
After it has been determined that facilities are available to your property, the next question to answer is whether or not assessments are due on the property. Assessments are fees charged by the Utilities to assist in the payment for the pipes adjacent to your property. The rates are set by local ordinance and cannot be modified by staff.
The assessment rates are multiplied by the property dimension that abuts, or lies next to, the water or sewer line. Staff has authority to apply certain adjustments to oddly shaped parcels that do not readily fit this rule. Many newly created parcels belong to developments where the water and sewer lines have been built by private developers and not by the CCU.
In these cases, there are no assessments charged the customer. In addition to assessments you will also be expected to pay connection charges to the Columbus City Utilities. These fees reimburse CCU for the labor and materials spent in providing the service. For larger services the actual costs are tabulated by the distribution crew and the customer is billed. For commercial connections requiring fire service lines or large meters, the builder provides all but the actual tap to the public main which is made by distribution crews and billed to the owner.
