Your water bill is not priced by the cubic metre. It is priced by the band, and when the federal government gazetted new water tariffs for Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan on 30 July 2025, almost all of the change went into the upper bands. For a small household the rise was often nothing at all. For a large one it was not.

Penang was the last big state to switch. Its new rates took effect on 1 July 2026 after a 12-month deferment, and on 17 July Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said there would be no further delay, despite a call from Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng to postpone for another year. Chow said the cost of producing water in Penang already exceeds RM1 per cubic metre.

We read each operator's own tariff page or rate card on 11 September 2026. Where an operator's site could not be reached, the source is named.

How the bill is worked out

For a house on its own meter, the tariff has three steps: a rate for the first 20 m³ in the month, a higher rate for 20 to 35 m³, and the highest rate above 35 m³. Each rate applies only to the water inside its band, so going one cubic metre over 35 does not reprice the whole bill. There is also a minimum charge if you use very little. One cubic metre is 1,000 litres, so 35 m³ is 35,000 litres a month.

Two groups sit outside those bands. A condominium on a bulk meter pays one flat rate for every cubic metre: RM2.09 in Selangor (up from RM1.68), with a minimum of RM173 a month, and RM1.83 in Kedah. And low-cost housing in Selangor has its own flat rate of RM1.18.

Selangor, KL and Putrajaya

Air Selangor's new rates took effect on 1 September 2025. The first 20 m³ stayed at 65 sen, unchanged since February 2024, and so did the RM6.50 minimum. The 20 to 35 m³ band rose 30 sen to RM1.62, and the band above 35 m³ rose 88 sen to RM3.51.

In ringgit: a 20 m³ month is still RM13.00. A 35 m³ month went from RM32.80 to RM37.30. A 45 m³ month went from RM59.10 to RM72.40, and each cubic metre past 35 now costs more than twice the one before it.

The state also widened its free-water scheme, Skim Air Darul Ehsan, to households earning up to RM6,000 a month, up from RM5,000. It gives RM13 of water a month, which is exactly the first 20 m³.

It is worth knowing what was dropped along the way. In March 2025 The Edge reported a proposal to raise Selangor's first band to 68.4 sen and to charge data centres RM5.50 per m³. The final tariff left the first band alone and set data centres at RM5.31.

Penang

PBAPP's rates from 1 July 2026 are 65 sen for the first 20 m³ (was 62 sen), RM1.30 for 20 to 35 m³ (was RM1.17) and RM2.21 above 35 m³ (was RM2.07), with a RM6.50 minimum. A 35 m³ month went from RM29.95 to RM32.50, the RM2.55 maximum the state quoted for the 82 per cent of households at or under that level. State exco Zairil Khir Johari put Penang's average for the first 35 m³ at 93 sen, second lowest after Perak. PBAPP's Family Friendly Rebate still takes RM20 off each bi-monthly bill for eligible large households.

The same water in every state we could verify

Here is one household's month at the rates each operator publishes now:

  • 20 m³: RM13.00 in Selangor and Penang, RM13.20 in Terengganu, RM15.00 in Negeri Sembilan and in Perak before its rebate, RM16.00 in Kelantan, RM16.20 in Kedah, RM18.80 in Melaka, RM21.00 in Johor.
  • 35 m³: RM31.20 in Perak before its rebate, RM32.50 in Penang, RM33.00 in Negeri Sembilan, RM37.30 in Selangor, RM38.40 in Kedah, RM38.55 in Terengganu, RM39.25 in Kelantan, RM44.15 in Melaka, RM56.25 in Johor.
  • 45 m³: RM51.70 in Negeri Sembilan, RM54.60 in Penang, RM58.40 in Kedah, RM60.25 in Kelantan, RM61.05 in Terengganu, RM66.75 in Melaka, RM72.40 in Selangor, RM91.25 in Johor.

Three things stand out.

Johor is the dearest at every level, but its 2025 change was the smallest. Ranhill SAJ's first band is RM1.05, its second RM2.35, with a RM10.50 minimum, and the 2025 review raised only the band above 35 m³, from RM3.15 to RM3.50. Johor's water was already expensive before the review.

Terengganu had the sharpest rise. SATU's first band moved from 58 sen to 66 sen, but the middle band went from 83 sen to RM1.69 and the top band from RM1.08 to RM2.25. A 35 m³ month rose from RM24.05 to RM38.55, about 60 per cent, and a 45 m³ month from RM34.85 to RM61.05.

Negeri Sembilan is now the cheapest for heavy users. SAINS charges 75 sen, RM1.20 and RM1.87 from 1 September 2025, the lowest top band of any peninsular state we could verify.

Kelantan's operator publishes 80 sen, RM1.55 and RM2.10 with an RM8.00 minimum, but it gives two start dates: the gazette it hosts says 1 August 2025, while its own tariff page says 10 September 2025. Kedah's SADA charges 81 sen, RM1.48 and RM2.00. Melaka's rates of 94 sen, RM1.69 and RM2.26 come from BERNAMA because SAMB's site would not load. Perak made no domestic change in 2025 and charges 75 sen and RM1.08 on the first two bands, with a rebate on the first 10 m³.

We could not verify the current bands for Perlis, Pahang or Labuan. Perlis's minimum charge was reported to rise from RM7.20 to RM8.80 in 2025, and Labuan was reported to have had no domestic increase. Their operators' sites did not respond on 11 or 12 September 2026. On 22 September 2026 PAIP's tariff page in Pahang and the regulator SPAN's site still did not load, and Syarikat Air Perlis's site, now back up, publishes no rate table, so we have still not printed band rates for these three.

Sabah and Sarawak

None of the above applies east of the South China Sea. Section 1(2) of the Water Services Industry Act 2006 (Act 655), which the national commission SPAN enforces, limits the Act to Peninsular Malaysia, Putrajaya and Labuan. Both Borneo states set their own rates, and both are cheaper than every peninsular state at the volumes in this guide.

Sabah. Jabatan Air Negeri publishes five domestic bands for a household on its own meter: 30 sen for the first 10 m³, 60 sen from 11 to 20 m³, RM1.10 from 21 to 35 m³, RM1.30 from 36 to 60 m³ and RM1.80 above 60 m³, with a RM3.00 minimum. Apartments on a bulk meter are priced separately and it matters which kind you live in: RM1.30 per m³ with a RM150 minimum for a block with facilities, 90 sen with a RM90 minimum for one without.

Sarawak. Kuching, Sibu, Miri and Bintulu no longer bill through separate town water boards. Sarawak Water Sdn Bhd, the state-owned utility, now publishes a single domestic rate card covering both of its regions, Northern and Southern & Central: a RM4.40 monthly minimum, 48 sen for the first 15 m³, 72 sen from 15 to 50 m³ and 76 sen above 50 m³. The domestic rate is the same whether you are in Kuching or in Miri. Note the band edges are not the peninsular ones: the first step ends at 15 m³, not 20, and the top step does not begin until 50 m³.

Worked out, the two Borneo states swap places depending on how much you use:

  • 20 m³: RM9.00 in Sabah, RM10.80 in Sarawak.
  • 35 m³: RM21.60 in Sarawak, RM25.50 in Sabah.
  • 45 m³: RM28.80 in Sarawak, RM38.50 in Sabah.

Sabah is the cheapest place in Malaysia to be a light user. Past about 25 m³ Sarawak takes over, because its middle band is 72 sen where Sabah's is RM1.10. At 45 m³ a Kuching household pays RM28.80 where a Johor Bahru one pays RM91.25 — more than three times as much for the same water.

Related reads

*Cover image: Air Selangor water meters in Kota Damansara, by Wiki Farazi, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons*

*Sources: operators' own tariff pages and rate cards (Air Selangor statement of 1 August 2025, PBAPP, Ranhill SAJ, SADA, Air Kelantan, SAINS, SATU, Jabatan Air Negeri Sabah, Sarawak Water Sdn Bhd), BERNAMA (4 June 2026 and for Melaka and Perak), The Star (17 July 2026), The Edge (March 2025), and the February 2024 tariff gazettes for earlier rates. Bills are calculated from the published bands and exclude any rebate or charge not shown on the tariff.*