Why You Probably Don't Have a Mainova Water Bill in Frankfurt
Mainova is Frankfurt's Grundversorger (default supplier) for electricity, gas, heat, and drinking water, but that doesn't mean most tenants get a personal water bill from Mainova. Mainova's water tariff, Aqua Classic, can only be ordered by whoever holds the building's main water meter (Hauptwasserzähler), which in a rented apartment is almost always the landlord or property manager, not you. As a tenant, your water use typically shows up bundled inside your annual Nebenkostenabrechnung (service charge statement) instead. There's also a split most newcomers don't expect: Mainova only bills drinking water supply. Wastewater (Abwasser) is billed separately by Stadtentwässerung Frankfurt am Main, the city's own drainage utility, not by Mainova at all. As of the 2025 rate adjustment, Mainova's drinking water price is 2.44 EUR per cubic meter (gross) plus a 52.22 EUR annual base fee, while Frankfurt's wastewater fee runs around 1.90 EUR per cubic meter, and both numbers usually reach you only as line items inside your landlord's cost statement, not a direct invoice.
The Official Rule
Mainova AG is Frankfurt’s Grundversorger, the default utility provider, for electricity, gas, heat, and drinking water, supplying more than 750,000 residents across a network of over 2,000 kilometers in Frankfurt and the wider Rhine-Main region. That single-company structure is genuinely unusual: in many German cities a separate water utility bills water while an entirely different company handles electricity. In Frankfurt, one company touches almost everything, at least on the supply side.
But “one company supplies it” doesn’t mean “you personally get a bill from it.” Mainova’s water product, Aqua Classic, comes with a restriction that quietly determines how most tenants actually experience it: it “can only be ordered if you have a main water meter” (Hauptwasserzähler). In a rented apartment building, that main meter is virtually always registered to the landlord or the property management company, not to an individual unit’s occupant. If you rent in Frankfurt, there’s a good chance you will never see a Mainova invoice with your own name on it for water, and that’s normal, not a gap in your paperwork.
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The Split Nobody Warns You About: Drinking Water vs Wastewater
Here’s the part that trips people up even after they’ve figured out the tenant/landlord meter issue. Mainova only handles drinking water supply. It does not bill wastewater. In Frankfurt, sewage and wastewater (Abwasser) is the job of Stadtentwässerung Frankfurt am Main, a separate municipal utility, a Eigenbetrieb owned by the city but run apart from Mainova’s own operations entirely.
| Charge | Billed by | 2025 rate (gross) |
|---|---|---|
| Drinking water supply (Trinkwasser) | Mainova AG | 2.44 EUR/m3 plus 52.22 EUR/year base fee |
| Wastewater / sewage (Abwasser) | Stadtentwässerung Frankfurt am Main | approx. 1.90 EUR/m3 (confirm current rate on the authority's own fee page) |
Both charges typically end up as separate line items inside the same document, your landlord’s annual Nebenkostenabrechnung, but they’re calculated and set by two entirely different organizations. If a number on your statement looks off, knowing which authority actually set it is the first useful step, complaining to Mainova about a wastewater figure, or vice versa, just sends you to the wrong office.
How Your Water Cost Actually Gets Split Between Tenants
Since most tenants share a building meter rather than having their own, German tenancy rules set out how landlords are allowed to divide that shared cost, and the rules aren’t the same for every type of water:
- Hot water (Warmwasser): must legally be billed based on actual measured consumption, not a flat estimate, if your building has the metering to support it.
- Cold water (Kaltwasser): can legally be billed either by measured consumption or apportioned according to your apartment's living space (Wohnfläche), depending on what your Mietvertrag specifies.
- Wastewater (Abwasser): must be apportioned using a distribution key, most commonly tied to your unit's measured or estimated water consumption.
The lease agreement itself has to spell out which method applies before a landlord can legally charge you through the Nebenkostenabrechnung, according to tenant guidance from hellohousing. If your annual statement seems inflated or inconsistent year to year, checking what your own contract actually says about water allocation is a more useful first move than assuming a billing mistake.
If You Do Have Your Own Meter
Not every Frankfurt rental runs through a shared building meter. Single-family home rentals, some older buildings, or units with their own registered connection sometimes mean you’re dealing with Mainova directly. If that’s your situation, reporting a reading is straightforward: Mainova’s own no-login tool asks for your customer number (found on your last bill), your meter number, the reading itself, and the date, and confirms submission by email, no account setup required.
Moving matters too. If you’re changing address, report the move to Mainova online at least 14 days before your move date, and read the meter together with the outgoing or incoming resident on the day keys change hands, so both sides agree on the exact reading rather than disputing it later.
What You’ll Need
- Your Nebenkostenabrechnung from the previous year (or your Mietvertrag if this is your first statement), to check how water is allocated to your unit.
- Your Mainova customer number and meter number, only relevant if you’re one of the minority of tenants with a direct connection.
- Patience for a once-a-year rhythm: unless you have your own meter and actively report to Mainova, you generally won’t see water costs until your landlord’s annual statement arrives.
Step by Step
- Check whether you actually have a personal Mainova water contract. Most tenants don’t, and that’s expected, not a paperwork gap.
- Look for water as a line item in your Nebenkostenabrechnung rather than expecting a standalone Mainova invoice.
- Separate drinking water and wastewater mentally when reading your statement: one comes from Mainova’s rates, the other from Stadtentwässerung Frankfurt’s, and they move independently.
- Check your Mietvertrag for how cold water and wastewater are allocated to your unit (metered consumption vs living space) if a number looks off.
- If you do hold your own meter, report readings via Mainova’s no-login tool and report any move at least 14 days ahead.
Compliance Note
This page explains general practice around Frankfurt water billing, but it is not legal or tax advice, and specific lease terms or billing details can vary. For your specific situation, confirm current rates and procedures directly with Mainova, Stadtentwässerung Frankfurt am Main, or your landlord.
FAQ & Common Pitfalls
I've been in my Frankfurt apartment for a year and never got a Mainova water bill. Is something wrong?
Almost certainly not. Mainova's water tariff, Aqua Classic, can only be ordered by someone who holds the building's main water meter, and in a typical rented apartment that meter is registered to the landlord or property management company, not to individual tenants. Your actual water use is measured (often by sub-meters per unit) and then passed to you once a year through your Nebenkostenabrechnung, the annual service charge statement your landlord is required to send. No separate Mainova invoice arriving in your name is the normal case, not a sign of a missing bill.
Does Mainova handle my wastewater too, or is that someone else?
Someone else. This catches a lot of newcomers off guard because it seems like it should be the same company: Mainova bills drinking water supply (Trinkwasser) only. Wastewater and sewage (Abwasser) in Frankfurt is billed by Stadtentwässerung Frankfurt am Main, a separate municipal utility (a Eigenbetrieb, city-owned but run apart from Mainova). If you're ever comparing numbers on a cost statement, the drinking water line and the wastewater line come from two different billing bodies, even though both eventually land in the same Nebenkostenabrechnung.
How is my share of the water cost actually calculated if I don't have my own meter?
It depends on what your lease agreement specifies, and German tenancy rules treat hot and cold water differently. Hot water (Warmwasser) legally has to be billed based on actual measured consumption. Cold water (Kaltwasser) can legally be billed either by measured consumption or apportioned according to your apartment's living space (Wohnfläche), whichever your Mietvertrag specifies. Wastewater has to be apportioned using a distribution key, most commonly tied to your measured or estimated water consumption. If your Nebenkostenabrechnung numbers look off, checking what your lease actually specifies for water allocation is the first step before disputing anything.
What were Mainova's 2025 drinking water prices, and did they change from 2024?
As of the 2025 adjustment, Mainova's drinking water volume price for private and commercial customers rose to 2.44 EUR per cubic meter (gross), with the annual base price at 52.22 EUR (gross). That's a further increase from 2024, when the volume price moved from 2.19 to 2.35 EUR per cubic meter and the base price rose from 46.52 to 49.73 EUR per year. Frankfurt's separate wastewater fee, billed by Stadtentwässerung, runs at roughly 1.90 EUR per cubic meter, though current wastewater rates are worth checking directly on that authority's own fee page since they're set independently of Mainova's schedule.
I do have my own water meter (a single-family rental, for example). How do I actually report a reading or a move to Mainova?
Mainova has a no-login meter reading submission tool on its own site: you enter your customer number (from your last bill), your meter number, the reading itself, and the reading date, and Mainova confirms by email. If you're moving in or out, report the move to Mainova online at least 14 days before your move date, and read the meter together with the outgoing or incoming resident on the day the keys change hands so both parties have an agreed, documented reading.
Who actually owns Mainova, and does that matter for my water bill?
Mainova is majority owned by the City of Frankfurt, through Stadtwerke Frankfurt am Main Holding GmbH, alongside the Thüga Verbund of municipal utilities holding a substantial minority stake. Practically, this doesn't change your rights or your billing process, but it explains why Mainova is structured as Frankfurt's single default provider (Grundversorger) across electricity, gas, heat, and drinking water at once, a genuinely unified setup compared to cities where separate private companies handle each utility.