Two homes in Columbia can share a list price and still cost different amounts to own every month. The water bill now depends on which side of the city limit line the meter sits on. On a newly built house, part of the price goes to a utility impact fee that rises each July. Neither cost appears on a listing sheet, and in Maury County both are set by votes taken since last December.
Columbia is still the less expensive option for buyers comparing it with Franklin or Brentwood. In the third quarter of 2026, Greater Nashville REALTORS reported a Maury County residential median of $440,000 across 537 closings. Williamson County's median was $1,075,000 for the same quarter. That gap holds up. But the cost of growth in Columbia is being collected through Columbia Power & Water Systems, so a buyer needs both the purchase price and the utility schedule to compare homes accurately.
The meter's address sets the rate
The current rate table from Columbia Power & Water Systems puts residential customers on two schedules. Schedule A covers homes inside Columbia's city limits and Schedule B covers homes outside them.
| Residential charge | Inside city limits | Outside city limits |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly customer charge, the minimum bill | $20.10 | $26.70 |
| First 8,000 gallons, per 1,000 | $4.32 | $5.52 |
| 8,001 to 20,000 gallons, per 1,000 | $4.92 | $6.12 |
| Over 20,000 gallons, per 1,000 | $5.22 | $6.42 |
Both schedules also add an amortization charge of five cents per 1,000 gallons. Here is how that works at 5,000 gallons a month. A home inside the line pays $20.10 plus $21.60, or $41.70 before the amortization charge. A home outside the line pays $26.70 plus $27.60, or $54.30. Both houses use the same water, and the outside home pays $12.60 more a month for it.
That difference grows with usage, which matters if you're looking at acreage. A family that irrigates a large yard or fills a pool moves into the higher tiers, and every tier costs $1.20 more per 1,000 gallons outside city limits.
The schedule moves up on a set timetable
The table above shows only the first step. On January 8, 2026, the Columbia City Council voted 5–2 to allow water rate increases of up to 20% per year for five years, Tennessee Lookout reported. The increases pay for a new $520 million Duck River intake and water treatment plant. The first new rates took effect March 1.
The size of that first step shows on CPWS's own pages. Its June 2025 rate release set the in-town residential customer charge at $16.75 and the first tier at $3.60 per 1,000 gallons, effective August 1, 2025. The current $20.10 and $4.32 are exactly 20% higher. The first year came in at the full ceiling.
Whether every later year does the same is not settled. "Up to" is a cap, not a promise. But a buyer can work out the range. If each of the four remaining steps also hit 20%, that same 5,000-gallon in-town bill would climb from $41.70 to roughly $86 by the end of the window. Tennessee Lookout's headline described the plan as a hike of up to 150% over five years. The low end of the range is today's bill, and the high end is about double it.
The reason is capacity. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation requires water systems to start planning expansion when they reach 80% of capacity. TDEC's water resources director told the council that CPWS was at 93%. The existing Riverside Drive intake has a permitted withdrawal of 20 million gallons a day, and peak withdrawals have reached 18.293 MGD, according to a CPWS presentation to the state's Duck River Watershed Planning Partnership. The new Williamsport intake downstream is designed for up to 32 MGD. Construction was planned to begin in spring 2026 and finish in summer 2029. That August 2026 presentation lists the required state and federal permits as secured.
CPWS serves about 27,000 customers directly. Thousands more get CPWS water through other systems that buy it wholesale. So a "Columbia" mailing address doesn't tell you who sends the water bill. Ask for a recent utility statement before you make an offer. It's the quickest way to find out which schedule, and which utility, a house is on.
A new house includes its water tap in the price
On the same night as the rate vote, the council unanimously approved a higher impact fee for new customers. CPWS's new water service page lists the fees.
- Impact fee, 3/4-inch meter: $6,000 as of July 1, 2026, projected at $6,500 in 2027 and $7,000 in 2028
- Impact fee, 1-inch meter: $10,000 as of July 1, 2026, projected at $10,833 and $11,667
- New service fee, residential projects of three lots or fewer: $300 plus $440 per single-family unit
- Meter fee, same category: $1,000 for a 3/4-inch meter
- Subdivisions of four or more lots: a $1,750 application fee, $1,750 plus $440 per unit in service fees, and $540 per 3/4-inch meter
Someone building a single custom home with a 3/4-inch meter would pay $7,740 in CPWS fees this year. By the 2028 projection, the impact fee alone is $1,000 higher. CPWS marks the later figures "subject to change." The page also says the utility reviews each new service request to see whether adequate supply exists and whether off-site improvements will be required.
On a builder's spec home in a subdivision, the buyer never sees these as line items. They sit inside the price per square foot. That changes how resale and new construction compare in Columbia. A resale home already has a meter and paid its tap fees years ago. A new home's price includes a fee schedule that is rising on a timetable everyone can see. Some of the price gap between a 2026 build and a ten-year-old house nearby comes from this utility cost, not from finishes.
Sewer capacity is being rebuilt too. Columbia broke ground in July 2024 on a $95.5 million wastewater plant replacement, and full operation was then expected by June 2028, the Columbia Daily Herald reported.
In the county, the lot rules are still being written
The county side is where buyers looking for acreage feel the most uncertainty. In December 2025, Maury County commissioners voted 16–4 for a temporary moratorium on major residential subdivisions in unincorporated territory, WKRN reported. The moratorium did not apply inside Columbia's city limits or to developments already approved.
That moratorium expired October 1, 2026. Land can again be split into residential lots of less than five acres with approval from the Regional Planning Commission and the County Commission, Front Porch Radio's October 16 news roundup reported, citing Main Street Media. The same report said one commissioner was interested in an extension. According to the county's building and zoning attorney, the planning commission can't take it up before late October, and the County Commission can't consider it before mid-November.
The plan meant to replace the moratorium isn't done. Consultant McBride Dale Clarion has finished Phase 1 and is in Phase 2. The advisory committee meets for a work session at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27, and December adoption was described as a fast-case timeline. The holdup is direction. "We don't have a set direction for the future land-use map," Liz Fields of McBride Dale Clarion told the committee, as reported in that same roundup. Public comment was split over whether the minimum lot in county territory should be one acre or five. Updates are posted at Plan Maury County.
Some rules already apply. A county zoning ordinance adopted in November 2025 took effect January 1, 2026. Main Street Maury reported its residential categories as at least one acre in Residential General and five acres in Residential Rural. The ordinance's stated purpose is to steer unincorporated growth toward existing municipalities, major-road nodes and interstate interchanges while preserving rural character.
Within city limits, the pipeline is large. Main Street Maury counted 10,442 housing units in Columbia's pipeline or under construction as of December 2025.
Reading the $440,000 median with the bill attached
Taken together, the market splits along the city line in three ways.
A resale home inside city limits gets the lowest water rate on the schedule and carries no new tap fee in its price. It still faces the same five-year rate path as everyone else on CPWS.
New construction inside the city has the same lower rate but has a rising impact fee built into its price. With more than ten thousand units in the pipeline, buyers will have plenty of choices and a lot of competing builders.
County acreage pays the higher outside-city rate per gallon, and large lots often use more water. The one- and five-acre zoning minimums are already in force. What's still open is the future land-use map that will guide later zoning requests, along with whether the subdivision pause comes back in November.
For regional context, GNR's September 2026 report put the nine-county residential median at $510,000, up from $490,000 a year earlier. Active inventory was 15,536, up 6% year over year. More listings give a buyer more room to negotiate. In Columbia, it helps to know what a $12 monthly rate difference or a $6,000 tap fee is worth to you before that negotiation starts.
Quick answers
Does the five-year plan guarantee a 20% increase every year? No. The council approved increases of up to 20% a year. The first step, effective March 1, 2026, came in at the full 20% on CPWS's published rates.
Is every home with a Columbia address billed by CPWS? Not necessarily. Some systems buy CPWS water wholesale and bill their own customers. A recent utility statement from the seller will show who the provider is.
Can rural land in Maury County be subdivided right now? The moratorium on major subdivisions ended October 1, 2026, and splits again need planning commission and County Commission approval. An extension could come up in November, and the new comprehensive plan is still in draft.
This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm fees, rates and land-use rules for a specific property with the utility, the county and your own advisors.
Choosing a side of Columbia's city line now involves its own math. We'd be glad to work through it with you, from utility statements to lot rules to the true cost of a new build compared with a resale home. Reach out to C&S Residential and let us help you find the right fit before you write the offer. Get in touch.
