The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) has released a supplementary draft report on new water metering charges in regional and rural NSW.
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The report is on the maximum prices that Water NSW can charge water licence holders for implementing the NSW government's metering reforms over the next four years.
"Improving the standard and coverage of water meters in regional and rural NSW is important for building community confidence that water is managed in a fair and equitable way," said acting chair Deborah Cope.
Water NSW will introduce five new charges to recover the costs of metering:
- A 'scheme management charge' will apply as an annual fee per licence.
- A 'telemetry charge' will apply as an annual fee per meter for reading meters that use telemetry.
- A 'non-telemetry charge' will apply as an annual fee per meter for reading meters that do not use telemetry.
- Two additional meter service charges will apply to customers with government owned meters to cover operating and capital costs.
"We're keen to hear from stakeholders about the draft prices. Submissions on the supplementary draft report are due by July 23," said Ms Cope.
The NSW government will contribute funding to Water NSW to cover the capital costs of upgrading government owned meters.
In addition, there will be a one-off rebate of $975 when an eligible user with a privately owned meter invests in telemetry.
"We have therefore made a draft decision to set a 'meter service charge - capital costs' of $0 a year for the next four years. There will also be lower scheme management, telemetry and non-telemetry charges if more users connect to telemetry," said Ms Cope.
The impacts of the new charges on users will vary by water source, location, meter type and whether their meter is privately or government owned.
"These new charges are needed to recover the efficient costs of Water NSW's metering program. This will support the long-term sustainability of water resources in NSW, which is in the interests of all water users" said Ms Cope.
Users with privately owned meters will also be required to purchase and maintain a new or replacement meter at their own expense. These costs would be borne by users and are not included in IPART's new charges.
The new charges will apply from October i, 2021. IPART has decided to delay the commencement of all new charges until then so they can seek feedback on the supplementary draft report before releasing final decisions in September 2021.
Further details about the review are available on IPART's website.
