Quick answer
A bill every Monday, 24 hours to pay it
The household gets one itemized paper bill every Monday — one per household, Parafolks have no individual bank accounts. You have 24 hours to pay it in full via the pay button on the bill itself (partial payment isn't possible, and each bill carries a collectible stamp). Missed the window? The envelope button at the top right of the screen reopens past bills so you can settle the one you skipped. Let it lapse and both power and water get cut.
- Billing dayEvery Monday
- Payment window24 hours
- PaymentAll line items at once
Screenshots
Paying bills and fixing a cutoff
Every frame is from a community walkthrough — click the timestamp to watch that moment in the source video.
What's on the bill
Every line item and its exact rate
The paper bill itemizes every charge and credit. Rates below come from the community wiki and were checked against build 0.1.6b; usage-based lines scale with what's placed on your lot.
| Line item | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Municipal Taxescharge | 0.5% of total household funds | On every bill, scaled to your current funds — richer households pay more. The wiki flags that the Storyteller may adjust it. |
| Electricitycharge | P0.08 per kWh | Scales with appliances placed on the lot, while they're switched on. |
| Watercharge | P0.1 per liter | Scales with fixtures on the lot, whether running or broken — broken fixtures are the classic bill-killer. |
| Family Benefitcredit | +P200 per child | Credit for every child in the household — minors actually lower the bill. |
| Unemployment Benefitscredit | amount undocumented | Weekly credit for jobless Young Adults, Adults and Elders, applied when bills are due. The amount is not documented anywhere. |
| Daycarecharge | P0.25 per minute per child | Per minute and per child in daycare — long workdays add up fast. |
| Daycare Transportcharge | P20 per child per trip | Flat fee when a child is brought to daycare from a lot you don't own. |
Two caveats on the 0.5% Municipal Taxes: the wiki's note that the Storyteller can adjust the rate is itself marked 'reference needed', and the original 2023 design taxed 1% of lot value instead of household funds — so treat the current figure as wiki-sourced, not gospel for this build.
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Non-payment
What happens if you don't pay
Miss the 24-hour window and the utilities go dark — power and water are shut off until you pay. That's the entire penalty: there is no repo man in Paralives, and no furniture or object repossession is documented anywhere. One player reported power staying off even after paying the following Monday's bill — likely a bug, so pay the missed bill itself via the envelope button, not just the newest one.
The exact in-game notification
“Electricity and water have been cut off! Pay your bills to restore service.”While the water is off, the gym is open 24/7 — showers and toilets there are free, which has saved more than one Para's job (hygiene matters at work). And if a bill is simply unfair, CLEARBILLS wipes it — see the cheats section below.
The water-bill saga
Why your water bill is so high
'Paralives water bill too high' has been one of the most-searched complaints since Early Access launch — and the devs have already patched it twice, with more fixes pending. Here's the paper trail.
Patch 0.1.3 — the general water fix
“Fixed a bug that made bills very expensive because of the water consumption.”Official patch notes 0.1.3, quoted verbatim
The first fix targeted inflated bills from water consumption in general. Note what it doesn't say: no mention of toilets — that attribution belongs to 0.1.4.
Patch 0.1.4 — the toilet fix
“Fixed an issue where flushing toilets would use too much water, raising the costs on bank statements. Other issues relating to water bills are still being investigated.”Official patch notes 0.1.4, quoted verbatim
Flushing toilets were drawing far too much water — and the notes admit, in the same breath, that other water-bill issues were still under investigation. That caveat still matters today.
Still happening: P1,000–3,000+ water bills
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“We are looking into this issue, and I believe we will be issuing a fix for this issue soon!”Dev reply in that thread, quoted verbatim
Lowering the bill
How to actually lower your bills
Three objects do the heavy lifting: the Solar Panel, the Wind Turbine and the Water Recycler. One precision most guides get wrong: these items existed before patch 0.1.5 — 0.1.5 didn't add them, it fixed their bill-reduction effect, which simply wasn't working.
Patch 0.1.5 — the effect starts working
“Water recyclers, wind turbines or solar panels being on your terrain now reduce your bills.”Official patch notes 0.1.5, quoted verbatim
Filed under Bug Fixes, not New — the three energy items were already in the game, and this patch made being on your terrain actually reduce the bill.
- 1
Get one of the three energy items
Buy one at Susan's General Store (hardware section, on the edge of Old Town and the Countryside, open 9am–9pm), earn one through Community Center Money Bundles 2–4 (P20,000 / P50,000 / P125,000), or unlock the Solar Panel and Wind Turbine on the museum donation track at 30 and 60 donations.
- 2
Place it on your lot
Since 0.1.5, having a recycler, turbine or panel on your terrain actually reduces the bill — before that patch the effect silently did nothing.
- 3
Repair broken fixtures immediately
Community consensus (and the 0.1.4 fix notes) point at broken sinks and toilets leaking water and inflating the water line — fix them the moment they break.
- 4
Watch the high-drain objects
Appliances draw −0.264 kWh/min and showers −5.4 L/min — the single biggest lines on most bills. Fewer simultaneous devices, shorter showers.
- 5
If a bugged bill slips through, erase it
CLEARBILLS deletes all pending bills for the household. It's a cheat, not a fix — but it's the community's standard answer to a P3,000 water line nobody earned.
Solar Panel
+0.6 kWh/min
Generates +0.6 kWh/min while placed — the low tier of generation, and the cheapest route in via Money Bundle 3.
- Sold in the hardware section of Susan's General Store (edge of Old Town and the Countryside, 9am–9pm; price undocumented)
- Money Bundle 3 — donate P50,000 at the Community Center · Minico (Solar Panel)
- Donate to the museum — reward unlocked at 30 donations
Wind Turbine
+0.95 kWh/min
Generates +0.95 kWh/min — the strongest single offset, locked behind the biggest Money Bundle or 60 museum donations.
- Sold in the hardware section of Susan's General Store (edge of Old Town and the Countryside, 9am–9pm; price undocumented)
- Money Bundle 4 — donate P125,000 at the Community Center · Minico (Wind Turbine)
- Donate to the museum — reward unlocked at 60 donations
Water Recycler
Targets the water line instead of electricity. Its exact savings aren't numerically documented anywhere — treat it as the answer to water-bill pain, not a measured rebate.
- Sold in the hardware section of Susan's General Store (edge of Old Town and the Countryside, 9am–9pm; price undocumented)
- Money Bundle 2 — donate P20,000 at the Community Center
Usage and generation rates
Per-minute rates from the wiki's usage table. Negative numbers are consumption, positive ones generation.
| Object | Rate | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Lights | −0.013 kWh/min | Low drain |
| Electronics | −0.079 kWh/min | Medium drain |
| Appliances | −0.264 kWh/min | High drain |
| Toilets | −1.2 L/min | Low drain |
| Sinks | −1.2 L/min | Low drain |
| Showers* | −5.4 L/min | High drain |
| Baths* | −5.4 L/min | High drain |
| Solar Panel | +0.6 kWh/min | Generation |
| Wind Turbine | +0.95 kWh/min | Generation |
* The wiki lists showers and baths at −5.4 L/min, but a player reading the shipped game data measured the high water tier at −6.5 L/min. One of the two is stale — with water bills this contested, we'd rather show both than pick a winner.
The bills cheats
Open the console with Ctrl+F1 (Cmd+F1 on Mac). Two commands touch bills directly — and if you just need money to cover one, JACKPOT, PRINTMONEY and SETMONEY live on the money-cheats page.
CLEARBILLSDelete all pending bills that the household has.
CLEARALLONSELECTEDCHARACTERSRelieves all Needs, removes all Wants, deletes interactions, removes bills, clears memories and clears all Emotions on the selected character(s).
CLEARBILLS is marked save-affecting in our command index: it deletes stored state rather than applying a temporary effect. Whether it also reconnects already-cut utilities is undocumented — back up a save you care about before wiping bills.
What Paralives does NOT have
Players coming from The Sims search for these — checked against the wiki and every official source, they're simply not in the game:
- No rent — you can't rent a home, and nobody charges you one. Lots are bought outright with Paradimes.
- No mortgage — there is no loan or financing mechanic of any kind.
- No repossession — unpaid bills cut power and water; nobody takes your furniture. Sites claiming a repo man are guessing.
- No property tax on lot value — the 2023 design taxed 1% of lot value, but the current build only knows Municipal Taxes on household funds.
Not yet verified
What no source documents (yet)
Rather than guessing, we list these openly — if you've verified one in-game, the wiki is CC BY-SA and welcomes the edit.
- The purchase prices of the Solar Panel, Wind Turbine and Water Recycler at Susan's General Store — no source lists them.
- How the bill reduction from energy items actually works: fixed rebate vs. offset against consumption, and whether surplus power can be sold back (that was a 2023 design statement, never confirmed for Early Access).
- Whether the 0.5% Municipal Taxes rate still holds in build 0.1.6b — the figure is wiki-sourced and the Storyteller-adjustment note is marked 'reference needed'.
- Whether CLEARBILLS also restores utilities that were already cut off.
- Whether water and electricity usage only accrue while fixtures are on or broken (as the wiki says), or continuously (as players suspect).
- The exact unemployment benefit amount — the wiki lists the line item with '?'.
Bills FAQ
- How often do bills come in Paralives?
- Once a week, every Monday, and you have 24 hours to pay. The bill covers the whole household — there are no individual accounts per Para.
- Why is my Paralives water bill so high?
- Three stacked causes: launch builds inflated water consumption (fixed in 0.1.3), flushing toilets drew far too much water (fixed in 0.1.4, with more issues still under investigation), and broken sinks and toilets leak water until repaired. Players still report P1,000–3,000+ water lines, so check for broken fixtures first.
- How do I pay a missed bill in Paralives?
- Click the envelope button at the top right of the screen — it lists past bills and lets you pay one you missed. Bills can't be paid partially, so settle the whole thing.
- What happens if you don't pay bills in Paralives?
- After 24 hours the power and water are cut off — the notification reads 'Electricity and water have been cut off! Pay your bills to restore service.' That's the whole penalty: no repo man, no repossession. Pay any missed bill via the envelope button to restore service.
- How do solar panels work in Paralives?
- Buy one at Susan's General Store, earn one via Community Center Money Bundle 3 (P50,000), or unlock one at 30 museum donations. Since patch 0.1.5, having one on your lot reduces the electricity line — it generates +0.6 kWh/min. The Wind Turbine (Bundle 4 / 60 donations) generates +0.95 kWh/min, and the Water Recycler (Bundle 2, P20,000) targets the water line.
- Is there a bills cheat in Paralives?
- Yes — CLEARBILLS deletes all pending bills for the household, and CLEARALLONSELECTEDCHARACTERS removes bills among its wider reset. There's no cheat to lower the rates themselves; that takes a Workshop mod.
- Is there rent or a mortgage in Paralives?
- No. Lots are bought outright with Paradimes — there is no renting, no mortgage, and no repossession mechanic. The only recurring housing cost is the Monday bill itself.
Keep reading
Related guides
Money cheats
JACKPOT, PRINTMONEY, SETMONEY and PAYDAY — when the bill is due and the funds aren't there.
Community Center
Money Bundles 2–4 trade donations for the Water Recycler, Solar Panel and Wind Turbine.
Collectibles and the museum
The donation track hands out a Solar Panel at 30 and a Wind Turbine at 60 donations.
Build mode guides
Where panels, turbines and recyclers actually get placed on your lot.
Needs and hygiene
Cut utilities hit hygiene first — keep the bars green while you save up.
Bill rates and patch history verified against build 0.1.6b on 2026-07-31.