Payment Options

TriRiver Water offers convenient methods for making utility payments. You can pay using Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, bank draft, money order, check, or cash. 

Electronic Bank Draft

Automatically have your monthly balance drafted out of your bank account. Your payments are received on time every month eliminating late fees and service disruptions due to a late payment. 

Benefits

  • Free - no additional processing costs to you; no check fees, credit card convenience fee, postage costs;
  • Payments are always on time - even if you are on vacation or out of town;
  • No service disruptions due to late payments;
  • Convenient and easy to manage

Savings accounts - If you plan to set up AutoPay from your savings account, check with your bank or credit union first. Some financial institutions will not honor bank drafts from savings accounts.

It is your responsibility to ensure that all information provided on the bank draft authorization form is accurate (especially the routing/transit number and the bank account number) and that sufficient funds are in the bank account. Otherwise, your utility bill cannot be paid using this method.

AutoPay / Text to Pay – by Credit/Debit Card

Ensure your payments are received on time every month, eliminating late fees and service disruptions due to late payments. Payments will be automatically charged to your credit or debit card. You will still receive your bill as usual and email reminders of the due date.
NOTE: Starting April 2025 a 2% convenience fee will be added to this type of payment.

  • Enroll in automatic credit card payments via our online system.
  • Subscribe for text to pay if you want to receive a text every time a new bill is generated. Then simply reply "PAY" to the text and your bill will be automatically charged to your credit card on file.

Benefits

  • Payments are always on time;
  • No service disruptions due to late payments;
  • Convenient and easy to manage – once you set it up, you don’t have to worry about it.

Pay Online

We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover through our online system. You can also schedule a payment in the future.  Your account will be updated to show your payment information and new balance. Register and log in OR use the one-time payment option.

Make an online payment – you will need your account number and customer number located on your bill to log onto the bill pay system.  

Click here to learn how to create your account.

Please note that all credit/debit card transactions will include a 2% convenience fee starting in April 2025. An example bill is shown below:

Screengrab showing $91.73 bill with Convenience Fee of $1.83 which results in total of $93.56

Pay by Phone

Call 919-775-8215 to make a payment using the automated phone system.  Please have your payment method information, utility account/customer number, and the service address zip code available.  Your account will be updated to show the payment information and your new balance.  

The automated system is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day. 

Pay by Mail  

NOTICE: USPS mail delays can cause utility bills and payments to take extra time to be received. Allow for extra delivery time when mailing utility payments. 

Mail a check or money order with the utility bill stub to:

  • TriRiver Water
     P.O. Box 96888
     Charlotte, NC 28296-6888 

Please do not mail cash. If you must pay in cash, please see the "Pay in Person" section below.

In addition, mailing checks without utility bill stub(s), without the correct amounts, and/or with missing information will cause delays with our processing center and/or require them to be returned to the TriRiver Water Customer Service department for manual posting.  The Customer Service Department attempts to process checks within 24 business hours; however, if additional research is required, it will delay processing times. 

Pay in Person

Visit one of TriRiver Water's official payment locations to make a payment in person using cash, check, money order, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover.  

  • City of Sanford Municipal Building
     225 East Weatherspoon Street
     Sanford, NC 27330
  • Food Lion (Chatham Commons) Shopping Center
    630 East Street, Suite 3
    Pittsboro, NC, 27312
  • Town Hall of Siler City
    311 North Second Avenue, Room 101 (bottom floor)
    Siler City, NC 27344

If you pay in person at any location other than the three listed above, please note it may take several days (or even weeks) for the payment to be processed and reach us. This could cost you additional late fees, or your services could be disconnected for nonpayment before we receive your payment. In addition, other vendors can assess processing fees.  

Walmart, the local Piggly Wiggly, or a CheckFree Pay payment center can also accept payments. You must supply your bill payment stub at those locations.

It Matters How You Pay – Online bill payers (through your bank or bill-paying services)

Online bill payment is a service through most financial institutions that allows customers to pay bills without having to write and mail checks. Online bill payment is usually tied to a checking account from which funds are withdrawn from that account for payment of one-time or recurring bills. Note: How your financial institution processes your online bill payment can vary greatly depending on their payment services. Please understand how your financial institution processes online bill payments, as it can take several days or weeks to reach us. This could cost you additional late fees, or your services could be disconnected for nonpayment before we receive your payment.

Mail payments to TriRiver Water, PO Box 3729, Sanford, NC 27331.  Please include your account number followed by the hyphen symbol (-), then your customer number.   

Go Paperless

Receiving your City of Sanford utility bill just got easier. Utility customers can receive their utility bills via email. Customers who opt into this service will receive only an electronic copy instead of a paper bill.

How to Switch

There are two easy ways to switch to paperless utility bills:

Night Drop Box

A night drop box is located at each of our three customer service centers. 

Any payments placed in a drop box after 5 p.m. will be credited the following business day. Please pay with a check or money order, as TriRiver is not responsible for cash payments left in the night drop box.