Water rates look set to rise on the Central Coast from July 1 this year, but by less than the 34 per cent Central Coast Council had applied for in its submission to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART).
IPART has released its draft decision on the proposed rises and is inviting consumer feedback until April 14.
Council, as the region’s water authority, had applied for a 34 per cent annual increase, effective from this July, which IPART estimated at an average annual rise of $360 per household.
Under IPART’s draft prices, a rise in water rates would be phased in over four years, with the combined yearly bill for a typical household increasing by around $200 (19 per cent) on July 1 this year and thereafter increasing by around $49 (4 per cent) per year, before inflation, until 2025-26.
IPART Chair, Carmel Donnelly, said the draft decision recognised the genuine need to invest in quality water services on the Central Coast, but it was critical they were accompanied by improvements to Council’s water performance and accountability.
“Our role here is to protect customers from excessive prices but at the same time to recognise people do need good drinking water and good waste-water management,” she said.
“The decision was made considering the minimum necessary for a water authority to meet standards.”
Donnelly said IPART had found there was a genuine need for the Council to invest in its water and waste-water systems to improve performance, with the decision heavily influenced by customer feedback on problems with water quality and reliability.
She said 89 per cent of those who responded to IPART’s request for feedback on Council’s submission said they would prefer any increase to be phased in.
“We also heard disappointment and distrust in Central Coast Council from some people in relation to previous financial management issues, including the running of CCC Water,” she said.
“The tribunal decided it is crucial that CCC Water is more accountable and transparent and be held to account that it spends the increases on improving performance.”
Donnelly said the draft decision was accompanied by several papers suggesting ways of monitoring Council’s performance in the area of water management.
“We intend to recommend CCC Water reports on its performance to the community annually,” she said.
“We expect CCC Water to consult with the community to develop a set of performance measures that reflect the community’s preferences.
“We have provided some examples CCC Water could consider in the draft report and we are interested in the community’s feedback on them.”
Donnelly said IPART also intends to recommend the Minister gives it a referral to investigate and report on CCC Water’s performance and progress in two years’ time.
IPART is encouraging customers and the community to make submissions on the draft report by April 14 and participate in a public hearing on April 5.
The draft report, draft determination, survey, and registration for the public hearing are available via IPART’s website.
Terry Collins
A 34% increase in water prices is gut wrenching for our community, and will cause real hardship.
34% is exactly what the Council asked for so it is difficult to understand IPART’s claims that it is less than the Council asked for (19% +4%+4%+4% is 33.8% after compounding).
IPART is supposed to protect customers from monopoly pricing, but once again it is pandering to the interests and well funded lobbying of a poorly managed Council.
It is either hilariously naïve or (more likely) utterly cynical for IPART to suggest the extra money will be spent on improving services. The extra money will be swallowed up by a self interested bureaucracy which now has less incentive to improve Council’s woeful performance and productivity.
This Council will never reform or become more efficient if it keeps getting bailed out by ratepayers. IPART is incentivising poor performance and lower productivity.