Water Meters and Water Connections in Montenegro: What the Podgorica Water Utility Charges, the 2026 Price per m³ and a Bill for 10 m³

The Podgorica water utility, Vodovod i kanalizacija Podgorica, charges €53.20 to register a water meter, €43.52 to fit or replace a half-inch or three-quarter-inch meter and €28.28 to test it: that is what its price decision of 20 May 2024 says, which we read on 25 September 2026. In 2026 a cubic metre of water in Podgorica, with wastewater removal and treatment, costs €0.8009, plus a fixed charge of about €1.02 a month; the sources do not say whether VAT is included in these amounts.

For work in a flat or house, from the meter pit to the tap, you can send a free request on Glatko, without an account, to plumbers in Podgorica. Below are the utility's prices for meters and connections, water prices in Podgorica and Budva and an example bill.

What people search for

On 25 September 2026 Google completed vodomjer (water meter) with okov, cijena (price), cijena crna gora (price Montenegro), 3/4 cijena, podgorica and očitanje (reading). It completed priključak na vodovod (water connection) with cijena and priključak na vodovodnu mrežu cijena (connection to the water network price), and people also search for zahtev za priključak (connection application). English and Russian searches for water meters in Montenegro returned no suggestions. Okov, which appears in the search suggestions, had no water meter on its website on 25 September 2026.

What the Podgorica water utility charges for a meter

The prices are in the decision on prices of certain works and services, adopted by the Board of Directors on 20 May 2024. How we choose and label price sources is explained on our page on how we measure prices.

For larger meters the prices rise: fitting a 6/4 inch meter costs €142.97, and flanged meters from €178.71 to €357.43, depending on the diameter.

Connecting to the water mains and sewer

The price of a water connection in Podgorica is not fixed. Under the same decision it is set by a cost estimate and depends on materials, labour, machinery and work on the network, including the water that would have been billed while the pipe is shut off. The associated services have fixed prices:

An illegal connection to water or sewer therefore has its own price in the decision. When buying or building a house, check that the connection is registered and whose name the meter is in.

Faults, sewers and damage to the network

The same decision sets the price of services for when something goes wrong. Locating a fault costs €91.61 an hour, or €65.14 without a driver; outside Podgorica fuel and the workers' daily allowances are added. Unblocking the foul sewer costs €199.63 an hour, detecting buried manholes €142.88 an hour, and a camera survey of the storm sewer €1.50 per metre. When work is done in difficult conditions, with sewage or toxic and flammable substances, the price rises by 20%.

The decision also says that individuals and businesses are charged for repairing the network when they cause a pipe to break, so before digging in a yard or on a plot it is worth requesting the utility map, which costs €164.48.

What a cubic metre of water costs in 2026

Since 1 January 2026 the water price in Podgorica has a fixed part, paid regardless of consumption, and a variable part per cubic metre. For Budva, the Regulatory Agency for Energy and Regulated Utility Services (REGAGEN) approved the 2026 prices on 28 July 2025.

Example: a bill for 5 and 10 m³

This is our calculation at those prices, without any VAT:

• Podgorica, 10 m³: fixed part €1.0168 and 10 × €0.8009 = €8.009, about €9.03 in total.
• Podgorica, 5 m³: €1.0168 and 5 × €0.8009, about €5.02 in total.
• Budva, 10 m³: fixed part €2.7824 and 10 × €1.2688 = €12.688, about €15.47 in total.
• Budva, 5 m³: €2.7824 and 5 × €1.2688, about €9.13 in total.

The same cubic metre is about 58% dearer in Budva than in Podgorica, and the fixed part is almost three times higher. The fixed part is paid even when a flat is empty, for example a holiday apartment out of season: without a single cubic metre used, that is about €12.20 a year in Podgorica and about €33.39 in Budva. For a flat you let, it is worth knowing how many months it stands empty and whether the meter is in your name.

If the bill suddenly rises and there is no visible leak in the flat, a meter test at the utility costs €28.28; how to look for a hidden leak is explained in our guide to water leak detection.

Who works from the meter pit to the tap

The water utility works on the network and in the meter pit. The installation after the meter, from the pit to the flat, the taps and the water heater, is a plumber's job. On 25 September 2026 Glatko had ten verified plumbers, six in Podgorica. None of the 25 requests the platform received between 24 April and 28 June 2026 concerned a water meter or connection. More on choosing a plumber is in our guide to plumbers in Podgorica, and on septic tanks, if the house is not on the sewer, in our guide to septic tank emptying. A registered contractor's invoice goes through the Tax Administration's electronic fiscalisation system.

What we did not measure

We did not find the price of the meter itself charged by the utility, or published prices for water connections, because these are given by estimate. We did not check the VAT rate on water, prices in Nikšić, Bar and other municipalities, or whether the 2024 decision has been amended since September 2026.