What it costs to connect to sewer, utility by utility

Every figure below comes from the utility's own fee schedule or program page, or from dated news quoting the utility. "Not published" means we could not find a figure on November 1, 2026; the phone is the one to call. Read the source column before you plan around a number: some fees are a few years old.

Notes on the table:

• Palm Bay: the fee waiver is described on the city's mandatory connection page (October 2025 capture) for eligible properties where sewer is available; the April 2026 service page lists the fees and payment plans without mentioning it. Ask which applies to you.
• Vero Beach: the city's online fee sheet still shows a $2,290 residential sewer impact fee, effective 2010. The help program in 2024 credited $3,390. Ask the city for the current figure.
• Fort Pierce: FPUA says several factors go into each estimate; the $10,395 is its single-family price from May 2025.
• North Hutchinson Island: the county's project page (October 2026 capture) gives no costs. The 2022 figures may have changed.

A sewer connection is several bills, not one. Ask for each piece in writing.

1. Utility fees. The connection or tap fee, an impact or capacity fee, sometimes a line extension fee, and an account deposit. These are the numbers in the table. In Palm Bay they come to $5,770.40 on a standard lot.
2. The plumber's line from your house to the street. A Florida licensed plumber connects your house to the sewer lateral or clean-out the utility marks, under a building permit. Palm Bay suggests making this connection before the tank is closed, so you are not without a toilet. Brevard's grant does not pay for plumbing under the house.
3. Pumping and closing the septic tank. A licensed septic contractor pumps the tank and fills it in, under a permit from the Florida Department of Health, and an inspector checks it. Palm Bay's pages say tanks are emptied, disabled and filled, not removed. In Brevard, call the health department at (321) 633-2100, option 1. Palm Bay puts a typical tank pump-out at $250 to $400.
4. A pump, where gravity will not work. Low pressure (LPS) and STEP systems put a small pump unit in your yard. In Vero Beach the city supplies the pump vault, tank and panel; you pay for installing them.
5. Electrical work. A pump needs power. Vero Beach's ordinance makes the owner pay for the wiring from the pump panel to the house panel, done by a licensed electrician.
6. Putting the yard back. Driveway, lawn and landscaping repair. Brevard's grant covers restoring them to how they were.

Gravity. Waste flows downhill from your house to a sewer main in the street. Nothing to power or maintain at your home. Indian River County estimates $7,000 to $15,000 for the owner.

Pump connections. Where the ground is flat, the water table is high, or the main is a pressure line, your home needs a pump:

• Low pressure sewer (LPS) grinds and pumps your wastewater into a pressure main. Fort Pierce Utilities Authority and Port St. Lucie use it. Indian River County estimates $15,000 to $25,000 for the owner.
• STEP (septic tank effluent pump) keeps a tank in the yard and pumps only the liquid to the sewer. Vero Beach uses it; the city's average was $15,000 on the mainland and $17,000 on the island in 2025.
• Vacuum sewer is planned on North Hutchinson Island, according to St. Lucie County.

A pump connection costs more, and it needs power. FPUA says its crews pump down each low pressure unit after a storm until power is back. Brevard's Quick Connect grant reflects the difference: up to $12,000 for gravity, up to $24,000 for a force main or a connection that needs a pump.

• Brevard Quick Connect: $1,600 for each pound of nitrogen a year your connection prevents, up to $12,000 for gravity and $24,000 for a force main or pump. It covers connection fees, permits, contract labor, the pump and closing the tank. Approval comes first: email [email protected] or call (321) 633-2016. Details: Brevard sewer connection grant.
• Indian River County Sewer Connection Assistance: up to $15,000 per property announced, for eligible residents where sewer is available. On November 1, 2026 the application portal had not opened. See Indian River County sewer connection help.
• Vero Beach and the Clean Water Coalition: for qualifying homesteaded owners, the 2024 program credited the impact fee, financed the STEP equipment at 0% over 10 years and had donors pay the plumbing and permits. In 2025 owners paid $5,400 over about 10 years. Funding beyond 2025 is not confirmed; call the Economic Opportunities Council of Indian River County at 772-562-4177.
• Fort Pierce (FPUA) and the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program: in February 2026 the lagoon council tentatively awarded FPUA over $200,000 to cut the price by about half for at least 38 homes, paid as reimbursement. Ask FPUA at 772-466-1600.
• Palm Bay: the city's fee waiver for eligible properties where sewer is available, described above.

More programs, including SHIP repair money, are on the septic grants hub and the St. Lucie help page.

• State law: when a public sewer becomes available, the owner of a working septic system must connect within 365 days of the utility's written notice (s. 381.00655, F.S.). The same law lets you prepay connection charges in monthly installments over up to two years from the first notice that sewer is coming.
• The 2030 rule: by July 1, 2030, homes on septic in the program area must connect to sewer if it is available, or upgrade to an ENR system (s. 373.469, F.S., as amended in 2026). Read the 2030 law and ENR or sewer.
• Indian River County: a mandatory connection policy gives owners 365 days after notice.
• Palm Bay: owners where sewer is available get one year from the city's written notice, under the November 2023 ordinance.
• Cocoa: Ordinance 03-2025 lets the city council require owners in a city sewer expansion project, such as areas J and K, to connect.
• Vero Beach: connect to the city's STEP system by June 1, 2028, or within one year of a sale or transfer (Ordinance 2024-05).
• Fort Pierce: FPUA says the St. Lucie health department will not permit a replacement septic system where FPUA low pressure sewer is available.

We checked each utility's fee schedule, rate booklet, ordinance or program page on November 1, 2026, and dated news where the utility was quoted. Where a city site blocks automated reading, we used Internet Archive captures and give their dates. We did not estimate, average or add up anyone's numbers: each cell is what the source says, and the date column says how old it is. Fees change, often on October 1 or January 1. If you work for one of these utilities, or you have a newer bill or fee schedule, send it to us through the about page and we will correct the table and note the date.

On November 1, 2026 we could not find a published septic-to-sewer fee or owner total for:

• Brevard County Utility Services, (321) 633-2091
• Titusville, (321) 567-3866
• Rockledge, (321) 221-7540
• West Melbourne, (321) 837-7750
• Utilities Commission of New Smyrna Beach, 386-427-1361
• Edgewater, 386-424-2400
• Oak Hill and Volusia County utilities, 386-736-5971
• Current North Hutchinson Island terms, St. Lucie County Public Utilities, (772) 462-1150
• Owner totals for Melbourne, Cocoa and Cocoa Beach

Ask for the connection fee, impact or capacity fee, deposit and any payment plan in writing, then get a plumbing quote. Run your numbers in the cost calculator.

Ask a licensed septic company that serves your area to quote the connection and closing your tank. The request goes to one licensed company, free and with no obligation.