Résumé : The main purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the reasons of delay in payment of residential water bill in Algeria. Using a big dataset of 27363 subscribers to the water services network and a small sample survey of 172 subscribers, we have estimated several duration models to identify the main determinants of invoice time-to-payment. It appears that household financial constraints, quality of offered service and nonlinear water tariff structure have a positive impact on the delay in payment of water bill. The paper calls for a more equitable tariff structure as well as an effort to improve the quality of offered service.