The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) has confirmed that the 2017 Determination of WaterNSW’s bulk water charges in the Murray-Darling Basin and for rural customers in the Fish River Water Supply Scheme would remain unchanged for 2018-19.
The Determination restricts price increases to CPI for 2018-19 for all Murray-Darling Basin valleys, except the Peel valley where changes to rebalance fixed and variable charges (as announced last year) will commence.
IPART Chair, Dr Peter Boxall, said maintaining price stability in line with the 2017 Determination will not have a material impact on WaterNSW revenues, and the benefit of certainty for water users outweighs any need to update charges on this occasion.
"We considered WaterNSW’s submission to our draft report that argued in favour of annual water price changes," Dr Boxall said.
"However we found that there is no evidence of a structural shift in demand to justify a variation to charges, bearing in mind the benefits of maintaining price stability and certainty for water users."
"We are confident that the revenue volatility allowance already in place provides sufficient protection of WaterNSW revenues in the face of current changes in demand and consumption."
IPART reviews WaterNSW’s bulk water prices annually under the Water Charge (Infrastructure) Rules 2010. ---
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