Fees & public finance
Connection fee
The charge for physically hooking a project to water or sewer, regulated alongside capacity charges by Gov. Code § 66013's cost-of-service cap.
Definition
A connection fee pays for the physical work and facilities of hooking a project to a water or sewer system — laterals, meters, installation. Like capacity charges, connection fees are regulated by Gov. Code § 66013, archived with the Mitigation Fee Act chapters: the charge cannot exceed the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service absent voter approval. Utility bills blur the vocabulary, but the statute's structure distinguishes the physical-hookup charge from the system buy-in (capacity) charge — and both from Mitigation Fee Act impact fees with their nexus-finding regime.
Why it matters in an underwrite
Classify every utility line item — connection, capacity, meter, standby — because the cost caps, payment timing and challenge routes differ, and § 66013 challenges carry a short 120-day facial-attack window (§ 66022). Meter sizing is the quiet cost driver: fees usually scale with meter size, so an oversized meter assumption inflates both the connection fee and the capacity charge. For ADUs, state ADU law layers its own proportionality limits on utility connection charges — worth checking before accepting a district's schedule.
Sources & related guides
See also
See the term in the law itself
Read the controlling text in the Code Library, or ask the AI how it applies to your project.
Last reviewed 2026-07-29. General information, not legal advice.