Private Well vs City Water Cost
Amortize your well over its service life and weigh it against your monthly water bill — illustrative math on your figures, not financial advice.
Calculator
Amortized over 20 years, a $12,000.00 well is about $50.00/month; against a $65.00/month city bill the well is about $15.00 cheaper per month. This is illustrative math on your figures — well life, pump replacements and rates vary. Not financial advice.
A private well trades a large up-front cost for near-zero monthly water charges (you still pay for the electricity to run the pump and for occasional maintenance). City water flips that: little or nothing up front, a bill every month. To compare them fairly you spread the well’s build cost over the years you expect it to serve, turning a one-time number into a monthly figure you can set next to the utility bill.
This is deliberately simple — a recoup identity on the numbers you enter. It is illustrative, not a financial model, and it does not fold in electricity, repairs, water quality or the value of water independence.
Formula
A pure amortization on your own figures:
Well cost per month = well total ÷ (service life years × 12)
Monthly difference = city bill per month − well cost per month
No interest rate, no live water tariff, no forecast — just your build cost, your assumed life, and your bill.
Worked example
A $12,000 well amortized over 20 years is 12,000 ÷ (20 × 12) = $50 per month. Against a $65 per month city bill, the well works out about $15 a month cheaper on these figures. Shorten the assumed life to 15 years and the well rises to about $67/month, roughly a wash — which is exactly why the service-life assumption matters so much.
What the simple math leaves out
Treat the result as a starting point, not a verdict. Real ownership costs include the pump’s electricity, periodic water testing, any treatment, and pump or pressure-tank replacements over the well’s life — a pump rarely lasts as long as the borehole itself. City water has its own trajectory: rates tend to rise over time, which quietly improves the well’s standing in a longer comparison.
Because so much rides on the service-life and bill assumptions, try a few values rather than trusting one. This is illustrative math on your figures — not financial advice, and savings are never guaranteed. Talk to a qualified professional for a real decision.